Related papers: Interpreting the Cosmic Ray Composition
Cosmic rays are relativistic particles that come to the Earth from outer space. Despite a great effort made in both experimental and theoretical research, their origin is still unknown. One of the main keys to understand their nature is the…
This is the first of a series of papers analysing the Galactic Cosmic Ray composition and origin. We show that the Galactic Cosmic Ray source (GCRS) composition is best described in terms of (i) a general enhancement of the refractory…
The origin and properties of the cosmic radiation are one of the most intriguing question in modern astrophysics. The precise measurement of the chemical composition and energy spectra of the cosmic rays provides fundamental insight into…
The arguments surrounding the Galactic component of the cosmic rays, the energy budget, questions of composition, spectral features, anisotropy, sources etc, will be critically examined. We are moving into a new phase in the study of the…
We briefly review sources of cosmic rays, their composition and spectra as well as their propagation in the galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields, both regular and fluctuating. A special attention is paid to the recent results of the…
This paper reviews recent progress in the field of direct measurements of Galactic cosmic rays. High-statistic measurements of cosmic ray energy spectra, chemical and isotopic composition, and the rare antimatter components have been made…
One century ago Viktor Hess carried out several balloon flights that led him to conclude that the penetrating radiation responsible for the discharge of electroscopes was of extraterrestrial origin. One century from the discovery of this…
The search for the origin of cosmic rays is a quest of almost a hundred years. A recent theoretical proposal gives quantitative predictions, which can be tested with data. Specifically, it has been suggested, that all cosmic rays can be…
Physicists have pondered the origin of cosmic rays for over a hundred years. However the last few years have seen an upsurge in the observation, progress in the theory and a genuine increase in the importance attached to the topic due to…
An overview is given on the present status of the understanding of the origin of galactic cosmic rays. Recent measurements of charged cosmic rays and photons are reviewed. Their impact on the contemporary knowledge about the sources and…
It is presumed that the observed cosmic rays up to about $3\times 10^{18}$ eV are of Galactic origin, the particles being the ones which are found in the composition of the stellar winds of stars that explode as supernova into the…
Our knowledge of the mass composition of cosmic rays is deficient at all energies above 10^17. Here systematic differences between different measurements are discussed and, in particular, it is argued that there is no compelling evidence to…
It is argued that there are three `origins' of cosmic rays; the origin of the particles, the origin of the energy, and the site of the acceleration. The evidence for each origin is discussed and a plausible synthesis outlined for the…
Galactic cosmic-rays (GCRs) are thought to be accelerated in strong shocks induced by massive star winds and supernova explosions sweeping across the interstellar medium. But the phase of the interstellar medium from which the CRs are…
Cosmic rays are the most outstanding example of accelerated particles. They are about 1\% of the total mass of the Universe, so that cosmic rays would represent by far the most important energy transformation process of the Universe.…
A brief review about the chemical composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10^15 < E < 10^20 eV is given. While there is convincing evidence for an increasingly heavier composition above the knee, no clear picture has emerged at the…
Initial discovery of CRs dates back to a century ago (1912). Their identification as particles rather than radiation dates to about 20 years later and in 20 more years also the first suggestion that they were associated with SNRs was in…
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 last decade has been dense with new developments in the search for the sources of Galactic cosmic rays. Some of these developments have confirmed the tight connection between cosmic rays and supernovae in our Galaxy, through the…
In cosmic ray physics extensive progress has been made in recent years, both concerning theory and observation. The vast details in direct, indirect and secondary detections on the one hand provide the basis for a detailed modeling of the…