Ultra high energy cosmic rays: Identification of possible sources, energy spectra, and propagation
Journal Article
·
· Physics of Particles and Nuclei
- Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russian Federation)
This review is devoted to the problem of the origin of cosmic rays (CR) with energy E >4 × 10{sup 19} eV. The review mainly deals with the hypothesis of CR acceleration in active galactic nuclei (AGN). The review consists of the following five sections: Introduction, three chapters, and Conclusions. The following points are considered in Introduction: shower arrays for detecting ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff, and the hypotheses of the UHECR origin. Since CRs are of extraterrestrial origin, some astrophysical data used in CR physics are presented in a special section. The identification of UHECR sources with energies E > 4 × 10{sup 19} eV is analyzed in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 deals with CR acceleration in sources and CR escape from sources. Chapter 4 is devoted to particle propagation in intergalactic space with allowance for CR interaction with the microwave background radiation and energy losses (blackbody or GZK cutoff). The propagation of UHECR protons is analyzed and their spectra at the Earth are calculated numerically. In Conclusions, we formulate the results and list the nuclear data needed to develop the model in more detail, namely, to study the propagation of CR nuclei in intergalactic space and to analyze the UHECR composition at the Earth.
- OSTI ID:
- 22974800
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Particles and Nuclei, Journal Name: Physics of Particles and Nuclei Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 37; ISSN 1063-7796
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Implications of the cosmic ray spectrum for the mass composition at the highest energies
Progress in ultra high energy neutrino experiments using radio techniques
Detectors for Cosmic Rays on Ground and in Space
Journal Article
·
Wed Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2008
· Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
·
OSTI ID:22156791
Progress in ultra high energy neutrino experiments using radio techniques
Journal Article
·
Thu May 23 00:00:00 EDT 2013
· AIP Conference Proceedings
·
OSTI ID:22118517
Detectors for Cosmic Rays on Ground and in Space
Conference
·
Mon Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2007
· Nuclear Instrumentation and Methods (NIM) A
·
OSTI ID:914729