Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-11-29
Nucl.Phys.Proc.Suppl.165:294-306,2007
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Invited paper presented at the CRIS 2006 Cosmic Ray International Seminar; 14 pages, 8 figures
Scientific paper
10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2006.11.04
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 10^{18} eV. Generally, the origin of the knee is understood as marking the limiting energy of galactic accelerators and/or the onset of increasing outflow of particles from the galaxy while the ankle is considered to mark the transition from galactic to extragalactic cosmic rays. Alternative theories do exist and shall be sketched. A key observable to answer the still open questions about the cosmic ray origin and to discriminate between various models is given by measuring the chemical composition or - more directly - by measuring energy spectra of individual cosmic ray mass groups. The status of present analyses is critically discussed and new experimental endeavors carried out in order to improve both the statistics and the quality of data particularly at energies above the knee will be summarized.
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