Cosmic Rays above the Knee

Abstract

An overview on the present observational status and phenomenological understanding of cosmic rays above 10^16 eV is given. Above these energies the cosmic ray flux is expected to be gradually dominated by an extra-galactic component. In order to investigate the nature of this transition, current experimental activities focus on the measurement of the cosmic ray flux and composition at the 'ankle' or 'dip' feature at several EeV. At the ultra high energy end of the spectrum, the flux suppression above 50 EeV is now well established by the measurements of HiRes and the Pierre Auger Observatory and we may enter the era of charged particle astronomy.

Invited talk at the 21st European Cosmic Ray Symposium, 2008, Kosice

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