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The Highest Energy Cosmic Rays, Gamma Rays and Neutrinos: Facts, Fancy and Resolution by Halzen, F. is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

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Although cosmic rays were discovered 90 years ago, we do not know how and where they are accelerated. There is compelling evidence that the highest energy cosmic rays are extra-galactic -- they cannot be contained by our galaxy's magnetic field anyway because their gyroradius exceeds its dimensions. Elementary elementary-particle physics dictates a universal upper limit on their energy of $5\times10^{19}$ eV, the so-called Greisen-Kuzmin-Zatsepin cutoff; however, particles in excess of this energy have been observed, adding one more puzzle to the cosmic ray mystery. Mystery is nonetheless fertile ground for progress: we will review the facts and mention some very speculative interpretations. There is indeed a realistic hope that the oldest problem in astronomy will be resolved soon by ambitious experimentation: air shower arrays of $10^4$ km$^2$ area, arrays of air Cerenkov detectors and kilometer-scale neutrino observatories.

Author

Halzen, F.

Published

2001

Language

EN