The origin of galactic cosmic rays

Abstract

Initial discovery of CRs dates back to a century ago (1912). Their identification as particles rather than radiation dates to about 20 years later and in 20 more years also the first suggestion that they were associated with SNRs was in place. The basic mechanism behind their acceleration was suggested almost 40 years ago. Much work has been done since then to the aim of proving that both the acceleration mechanism and site are well understood, but no definite proof has been obtained: in spite of impressive progress of both theory and observations, the evidence in support of the commonly accepted interpretation is only circumstantial. In the following I will try to make the point on where we stand in terms of how our theories confront with data: I will review recent progress on the subject and try to point to avenues to pursue in order to gather new proofs, if not smoking gun evidence of the origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays.

Invited Review for International Journal of Modern Physics D, 43 pages, 16 figures

References in corpus (19)

• Observation of an anomalous positron abundance in the cosmic radiation
• Detection of the Characteristic Pion-Decay Signature in Supernova Remnants
• Discrepant hardening observed in cosmic-ray elemental spectra
• Spectral breaks as a signature of cosmic ray induced turbulence in the Galaxy
• Observations of the young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• A Physical Relationship Between Electron-Proton Temperature Equilibration and Mach Number in Fast Collisionless Shocks
• Measurements of cosmic-ray secondary nuclei at high energies with the first flight of the CREAM balloon-borne experiment
• A kinetic approach to cosmic ray induced streaming instability at supernova shocks
• Non linear particle acceleration at non-relativistic shock waves in the presence of self-generated turbulence
• Measuring the cosmic ray acceleration efficiency of a supernova remnant
• Production of Magnetic Turbulence by Cosmic Rays Drifting Upstream of Supernova Remnant Shocks
• Dynamical Feedback of Self-generated Magnetic Fields in Cosmic Ray Modified Shocks
• Gamma ray emission from SNR RX J1713.7-3946 and the origin of galactic cosmic rays
• Modeling Bell's Non-resonant Cosmic Ray Instability
• The maximum momentum of particles accelerated at cosmic ray modified shocks
• Dynamical effects of self-generated magnetic fields in cosmic ray modified shocks
• Turbulence Dissipation and Particle Injection in Non-Linear Diffusive Shock Acceleration with Magnetic Field Amplification
• Hadronic versus leptonic origin of the gamma-ray emission from Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7-3946
• The influence of the Alfvénic drift on the shape of cosmic ray spectra in SNRs

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Cosmic-ray transport from AMS-02 B/C data: benchmark models and interpretation
• On the cosmic ray spectrum from type II Supernovae expanding in their red giant presupernova wind
• The low rate of Galactic pevatrons
• Cosmic ray production in supernovae
• Realistic modeling of wind and supernovae shocks in star clusters: addressing ${}^{22}\mathrm{Ne}{/}^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$ and other problems in Galactic cosmic rays
• Parameter estimation of superdiffusive motion of energetic particles upstream of heliospheric shocks
• Diffuse γ-ray emission from self-confined cosmic rays around Galactic sources
• On particle acceleration and transport in plasmas in the Galaxy: theory and observations
• Imaging of SNR IC443 and W44 with the Sardinia Radio Telescope at 1.5 GHz and 7 GHz
• Time-dependent high-energy gamma-ray signal from accelerated particles in core-collapse supernovae: the case of SN 1993J
• The impact of astrophysical dust grains on the confinement of cosmic rays
• New high-frequency radio observations of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant with the Italian radio telescopes
• Nuclear de-excitation lines as a probe of low-energy cosmic rays
• The Important Role of Cosmic-Ray Re-Acceleration
• The Orion Region: Evidence of enhanced cosmic-ray density in a stellar wind forward shock interaction with a high density shell
• Probing maximum energy of cosmic rays in SNR through gamma rays and neutrinos from the molecular clouds around SNR W28
• The self-control of Cosmic Rays