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We present a study of the multiplicities, of the lateral distributions and of the ratio of the electromagnetic to the hadronic components in the air showers, generated by the collision in the atmosphere of an incoming high energy cosmic ray…
The field of ultra-high energy cosmic rays made a lot of progresses last years with large area experiments such as the Pierre Auger Observatory, HiRes and the Telescope Array. A suppression of the cosmic ray flux at energies above…
We present the results of a study that simulates trajectories of ultra-high energy cosmic rays from Centaurus A to Earth, for particle rigidities from $E/Z = 2$ EV to 100 EV, i.e., covering the possibility of primary particles as heavy as…
We reanalyse the prospects for upcoming Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray experiments in connection with the phenomenology of Super-heavy Dark Matter. We identify a set of observables well suited to reveal a possible anisotropy in the High…
The present situation with regard to experimental data on ultra high-energy cosmic rays is briefly reviewed. Whilst detailed knowledge of the shape of the energy spectrum is still lacking, it is clear that events above 10^20 eV do exist.…
Investigations of the origin of cosmic rays are presented. Different methods are discussed: studies of cosmic gamma rays of energy from 30 MeV to about 10^15 eV (since photons point to their places of origin), studies of the mass…
We examine the correlation between compact radio quasars (redshifts in the range $z = 0.3 - 2.2$) and the arrival direction of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays forming clusters. Our Monte Carlo simulation reveals a statistically significant…
An approach for measuring energy of cosmic-ray particles with energies E > 10^12 eV using an ultrathin calorimeter is presented. The method is based on the analysis of the correlation dependence of the cascade size on the rate of…
The high energy proton beams expected when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) comes online should provide a pass/fail test for a gravity-related explanation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. The model predicts that particles have two kinds…
We present a brief introduction to the physics of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), concentrating on the experimental results obtained so far and on what, from these results, can be inferred about the sources of UHECRs.
Photonuclear interactions between ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) nuclei and surrounding photon fields are key to understanding the connection between the compositions observed at Earth and those emitted from the sources. These…
If Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) with E>4 10^{19} eV originate from BL Lacertae at cosmological distances as suggested by recent studies, the absence of the GZK cutoff can not be reconciled with Standard-Model particle properties.…
Cosmic rays with energies beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin `cutoff' at $\sim 4 \times 10^{10}$ GeV pose a conundrum, the solution of which requires either drastic revision of our astrophysical understanding, or new physics beyond the…
Detecting and characterizing the anisotropy pattern of the arrival directions of the highest energy cosmic rays are crucial steps towards the identification of their sources. We discuss a possible distortion of the cosmic ray flux induced…
Codalema is one of the experiments devoted to the detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays by the radio method. The main objective is to study the features of the radio signal induced by the development in the atmosphere of extensive air…
Considerations of the collision losses for protons traversing the 2.7 K black body microwave radiation field have led to the conclusion that the highest energy cosmic rays, those observed at $\geq 10^{20}$ eV, must come from sources within…
We present the achievements of the last years of the experimental and theoretical groups working on hadronic cross section measurements at the low energy e+e- colliders in Beijing, Frascati, Ithaca, Novosibirsk, Stanford and Tsukuba and on…
We propose a model in which ultra high energy cosmic rays and gamma ray bursts are produced by collisions between neutron stars and axion stars. The acceleration of such a cosmic ray is made by the electric field, $\sim 10^{15} (B/10^{12}…
We introduce neutrino astronomy starting from the observational fact that Nature accelerates protons and photons to energies in excess of 10^{20} and 10^{13} eV, respectively. Although the discovery of cosmic rays dates back a century, we…
The origin of the particles in the highest energy end of the cosmic ray spectrum is discussed in the context of the wider problem of the origin of the whole cosmic radiation as observed at the Earth. In particular we focus our attention on…