Spectrum of cosmic rays, produced in supernova remnants
arXiv:0704.1715 · doi:10.1086/518737
Abstract
Nonlinear kinetic theory of cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in supernova remnants is employed to calculate CR spectra. The magnetic field in SNRs is assumed to be significantly amplified by the efficiently accelerating nuclear CR component. It is shown that the calculated CR spectra agree in a satisfactory way with the existing measurements up to the energy eV. The power law spectrum of protons extends up to the energy eV with a subsequent exponential cutoff. It gives a natural explanation for the observed knee in the Galactic CR spectrum. The maximum energy of the accelerated nuclei is proportional to their charge number . Therefore the break in the Galactic CR spectrum is the result of the contribution of progressively heavier species in the overall CR spectrum so that at eV the CR spectrum is dominated by iron group nuclei. It is shown that this component plus a suitably chosen extragalactic CR component can give a consistent description for the entire Galactic CR spectrum.
4 pages with emulateapj, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters
References in corpus (4)
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Cited by in corpus (8)
- Evolution of the cosmic ray anisotropy above 10^{14} eV
- Measuring extensive air showers with Cherenkov light detectors of the Yakutsk array: The energy spectrum of cosmic rays
- Non-linear diffusive acceleration of heavy nuclei in supernova remnant shocks
- Cosmic Ray Acceleration by Supernova Shocks
- The origin of galactic cosmic rays
- Direct Measurements, Acceleration and Propagation of Cosmic Rays
- Cosmic Rays above the Knee
- Supernova remnants as cosmic ray factories