Related papers: GZK Violation - a Tempest in a (Magnetic) Teapot?
The apparent lack of suitable astrophysical sources for cosmic rays with E > 10^{19.7} eV (UHECRs) is the "GZK Paradox". We argue that whatever mechanism produces them must also account for events down to ~10^{18.7} eV, including their…
In a recent letter [1] with the same title, Farrar and Piran offered an explanation for the near isotropy of the arrival directions [2] of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and the apparent absence [3] of the so called `GZK cutoff' in…
High energy cosmic rays allow probing phenomena that are inacessible to accelerators. Observation of cosmic rays, presumebly protons, with energies beyond $4 \times 10^{19} eV$, the so-called Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cut-off, give…
We review the basic ideas on the origin of cosmic rays with energy in excess of $\sim 10^{19}$ eV, in the light of the most recent observational findings. The limited statistics of events detected by the two largest experiments currently…
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays interacting with the radiation fields in the universe cause electromagnetic cascades resulting in a flux of extragalactic gamma rays, detectable to some 100 GeV. Recent precise measurements of the extragalactic…
Locating the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) still remains a difficult puzzle for modern astrophysics. A major hurdle in the search for the sources is the fact that UHECRs are deflected by the Galactic magnetic field…
Owing to their isotropy, it is generally believed that ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are extragalactic in origin. It is then expected that interactions of these cosmic rays with photons of the cosmic background radiation (CBR)…
The origin and composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) remain a mystery. The common lore is that UHECRs are deflected from their primary directions by the Galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields. Here we describe an…
Ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) pose a problem either for particle physics or for astrophysics (or for both) by the unexpectedly high number of cosmic ray showers observed with energy above about 5x10^{19}eV, the…
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.…
Observation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) -whose energy exceeds $10^20$eV- is still a puzzle for modern astrophysics. The transfer of more than 16 Joules to a microscopic particle can hardly be achieved, even in the most powerful…
The recent discoveries of several reliable events of high energy cosmic rays at an energy above 10^20 eV raise questions about their path through the nearby universe. The two analyses of the Haverah Park data set and the Akeno data set…
Observations of cosmic rays with energies above ~ 4 x 10^{10} GeV have inspired several speculative suggestions concerning their origin. The crucial question is whether or not the spectrum exhibits the expected `GZK cutoff' at this energy…
We consider the advantages of and the problems associated with hypotheses to explain the origin of ulthrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECR: E > 10 EeV) and the "trans GZK" cosmic rays (TGZK: E > 100 EeV), both through "old physics"…
The existence of cosmic ray particles up to the ultra-high energy limit (> 10^20 eV) is now beyond any doubt. The detection of cosmic particles with such energies imposes a challenge for the comprehension of their sources and nature. On one…
I review what is known and surmised about magnetic fields in space, from our Milky Way environment to the distant Universe beyond the GZK horizon. This includes our gradually improving specification of the CR propagation environment within…
The detection of the GZK feature in the cosmic ray spectrum, resultingfrom the production of pions by ultra-high energy protons scattering off the cosmic microwave background (CMB), can shed light on the mysterious sources of these high…
Recent evidence from the Pierre Auger Observatory suggests a transition, at 5 EeV-10EeV in the composition of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), from protons to heavier nuclei such as iron. I consider here the implications of the…
Contrary to earlier expectations, several cosmic ray events with energies above $10^{20}$ eV have been reported by a number of ultra-high energy cosmic ray observatories. According to the AGASA experiment, the flux of such events is well…
Recent observations with the large air shower arrays of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) and recent measurements/estimates of the redshifts of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) seem to rule out extragalactic GRBs as the source of the cosmic rays…