Related papers: THE ORIGIN OF COSMIC RAYS
Based on the ``cannonball model'' for gamma-ray bursts of Dar and De Rujula it is proposed that masses of baryonic plasma (``cannonballs''), ejected in bipolar supernova explosions in our Galaxy are the sources of hadronic Galactic cosmic…
The possibility for a self-consistent description of all the basic features of the observed cosmic ray spectra and primary composition variations in the energy range of $10^{15}\div 10^{20}$ eV within the Galactic origin scenario is…
The origin of cosmic rays with energies higher than 10$^{20}$ eV remains a mystery. Accelerating particles up to these energies is a challenge even for the most energetic astrophysical objects known. While the isotropy in arrival directions…
This paper deals with the cosmic-ray penetration into molecular clouds and with the related gamma--ray emission. High energy cosmic rays interact with the dense gas and produce neutral pions which in turn decay into two gamma rays. This…
The hypothesis that the entire cosmic ray spectrum, from $\lesssim1\,{\rm GeV}$ to $\gtrsim100\,{\rm EeV}$ energy, can be accounted for by diffusive shock acceleration on increasingly large scales is critically examined. Specifically, it is…
The origin of cosmic rays above the knee in the spectrum is an unsolved problem. We present a wind model in which interstellar gas flows along a non-rotating, expanding flux tube with a changing speed and cross-sectional area. Cosmic rays…
The origin of ultra high energy cosmic rays promises to lead us to a deeper understanding of the structure of matter. This is possible through the study of particle collisions at center-of-mass energies in interactions far larger than…
In this paper we briefly discuss the problem of the origin of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays in the framework of Top-Down models. We show that, for high energy of decays and in a wide range of spectra of injected protons, their extragalactic…
The origin of cosmic rays from outside the Solar system are unknown, as they are deflected by the interstellar magnetic field. Supernova remnants are the main candidate for cosmic rays up to PeV energies but due to lack of evidence, they…
Theoretical aspects of potential astrophysical sources of the highest energy cosmic rays are discussed, including their energy budget and some issues on particle escape and propagation. After briefly addressing AGN jets and GRBs, we…
Ultra high energy cosmic ray events presently show a spectrum, which we interpret here as galactic cosmic rays due to a starburst in the radio galaxy Cen A pushed up in energy by the shock of a relativistic jet. The knee feature and the…
Historically cosmic rays have always been at the intersection of astrophysics with particle physics. This is still and especially true in current days where experimenters routinely observe atmospheric showers from particles whose energies…
Recent high energy gamma-ray observations of both single supernova remnants and superbubbles, together with observations of supernovae, star formation regions, and local cosmic ray composition, now provide an integrated framework tying…
A field with particularly exciting results over the past few years is the study of the interaction of cosmic rays with interstellar matter. For star formation to take place, gas and dust need to be sufficiently cold for gravity to overcome…
Supernova remnants have long been considered as a promising candidate for sources of Galactic cosmic rays. However, modelling cosmic-ray transport around these sources is complicated by the fact that the overdensity of cosmic rays close to…
In the common model supernova shock-acceleration of cosmic rays there are two open questions: 1. where does the high energy cosmic rays below the knee (10$^4-10^6$ Gev) come from, and 2. are cosmic ray accelerated only at their origin or…
We give a review of cosmic ray propagation models. It is shown that the development of the theory of cosmic ray origin leads inevitably to the conclusion that cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy is determined by effective particle…
The quest for the origin(s) of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) continues to be a far-reaching pillar of high energy astrophysics. The source scrutiny is mostly based on three observables: the energy spectrum, the nuclear composition,…
I give a brief overview of cosmic ray physics, highlighting some key questions and how they will be addressed by new experiments.
The propagation of cosmic-ray protons in the Galaxy is discussed under the framework of a three dimensional convection-diffusion model. Starting with the assumption of a uniform and continuous distribution of cosmic-ray sources injecting…