Related papers: Experimental Ultra--High-Energy Cosmic Ray Physics
Although cosmic rays were discovered over 100 years ago their origin remains uncertain. They have an energy spectrum that extends from 1 GeV to beyond 1020 eV, where the rate is less than 1 particle per km2 per century. Shortly after the…
Cosmic rays represent one of the most important energy transformation processes of the universe. They bring information about the surrounding universe, our galaxy, and very probably also the extragalactic space, at least at the highest…
The physics of energetic particle propagation in magnetised environments plays a crucial role in both the processes of acceleration and transport of cosmic rays. Recent theoretical developments in the field of cosmic ray research have been…
It is proposed that the highest energy $\sim 10^{20}$eV cosmic ray primaries are protons, decay products of a long-lived progenitor whose high kinetic energy arises from decay of a distant (cosmological) superheavy particle, G. Such a…
Forty years have passed since the first Explorer orbiting observatory - the 1958 mission used to discover the Van Allen radiation belts outside the atmosphere - ushered in the modern age of space science. Even though in situ observations of…
Ultra high energy cosmic rays have been see coming from the direction of the local cosmic void. We use this fact to argue that at least some of these these cosmic rays are relatively light magnetic monopoles and that their relative fraction…
In the first part of this review we discuss the basic observational features at the end of the cosmic ray energy spectrum. We also present there the main characteristics of each of the experiments involved in the detection of these…
In these three lectures I discuss the present status of high-energy astroparticle physics including Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR), high-energy gamma rays, and neutrinos. The first lecture is devoted to ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.…
Ultra high energy particles arrive at Earth constantly. They provide a beam at energies higher than any man-made accelerator, but at a very low rate. Two large experiments, the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array experiment,…
The surprising lack of a high energy cutoff in the cosmic ray spectrum at the highest energies together with an apparently isotropic distribution of arrival directions have strongly challenged most models proposed for the acceleration of…
Recent progress in cosmic ray physics covering the energy range from about 10^{14} eV to 10^{19} eV is reviewed. The most prominent features of the energy spectrum are the so called `knee' at E ~ 3 * 10^{15} eV and the `ankle' at few…
The topological defect scenario of origin of the observed highest energy cosmic rays is reviewed. Under a variety of circumstances, topological defects formed in the early Universe can be sources of very massive particles in the Universe…
It is proposed that the highest energy $\sim 10^{20}$eV cosmic ray primaries are protons, decay products of a long-lived progenitor which has propagated from typically $\sim 100$Mpc. Such a scenario can occur in e.g. SU(15) grand…
The origin of Galactic cosmic rays (with energies up to 10^15 eV) remains unclear, though it is widely believed that they originate in the shock waves of expanding supernova remnants. Currently the best way to investigate their acceleration…
The energy spectrum of cosmic rays between 10**16 eV and 10**18 eV, derived from measurements of the shower size (total number of charged particles) and the total muon number of extensive air showers by the KASCADE-Grande experiment, is…
The current status of the theory of particle acceleration at relativistic shocks is presented, and a few possible scenarios for ultra-high-energy cosmic ray production at such shocks are briefly discussed.
We introduce neutrino astronomy 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 close to a century, we…
We explore the influence of new physics on extremely high energy cosmic ray (EXCER) particles. In particular, we devote our mind to one example of new physics, unparticle stuff, on one specific process that EXECRs participate in, photopion…
We study the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic ray nuclei through the background of cosmic microwave and intergalactic infrared photons, using recent re-estimates for the density of the last ones. We perform a detailed Monte Carlo…
The article gives a brief overview, aimed at nonspecialists, about the goals and selected recent results of the detection of very-high energy gamma-rays (energies above 100 GeV) with ground based detectors. The stress is on the physics…