A theory of Cosmic Rays

Abstract

We present a theory of non-solar cosmic rays (CRs) in which the bulk of their observed flux is due to a single type of CR source at all energies. The total luminosity of the Galaxy, the broken power-law spectra with their observed slopes, the position of the `knee(s)' and `ankle', and the CR composition and its variation with energy are all predicted in terms of very simple and completely `standard' physics. The source of CRs is extremely `economical': it has only one parameter to be fitted to the ensemble of all of the mentioned data. All other inputs are `priors', that is, theoretical or observational items of information independent of the properties of the source of CRs, and chosen to lie in their pre-established ranges. The theory is part of a `unified view of high-energy astrophysics' --based on the `Cannonball' model of the relativistic ejecta of accreting black holes and neutron stars. The model has been extremely successful in predicting all the novel properties of Gamma Ray Bursts recently observed with help of the Swift satellite. If correct, this model is only lacking a satisfactory theoretical understanding of the `cannon' that emits the cannonballs in catastrophic processes of accretion.

Updated to discuss recent data, mainly from Auger

References in corpus (54)

• Discovery of the peculiar supernova 1998bw in the error box of GRB980425
• The Cosmic Microwave Background Spectrum from the Full COBE/FIRAS Data Set
• A very energetic supernova associated with the gamma-ray burst of 29 March 2003
• Intrinsic spectra and energetics of BeppoSAX Gamma-Ray Bursts with known redshifts
• Correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic objects
• The Dynamics and Light Curves of Beamed Gamma Ray Burst Afterglows
• EGRET Observations of the Extragalactic Gamma Ray Emission
• Polarimetric Observations of 15 Active Galactic Nuclei at High Frequencies: Jet Kinematics from Bimonthly Monitoring with the Very Long Baseline Array
• A `Hypernova' model for SN 1998bw associated with gamma-ray burst of 25 April 1998
• Extension of the Cosmic-Ray Energy Spectrum Beyond the Predicted Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min Cutoff
• Observation of contemporaneous optical radiation from a gamma-ray burst
• An exceptionally bright flare from SGR1806-20 and the origins of short-duration gamma-ray bursts
• The H.E.S.S. survey of the Inner Galaxy in very high-energy gamma-rays
• Diffuse Galactic continuum gamma rays. A model compatible with EGRET data and cosmic-ray measurements
• High-energy particle acceleration in the shell of a supernova remnant
• Spitzer view on the evolution of star-forming galaxies from z=0 to z~3
• On the knee in the energy spectrum of cosmic rays
• The afterglow and elliptical host galaxy of the short gamma-ray burst GRB 050724
• Polarization of the prompt gamma-ray emission from the gamma-ray burst of 6 December 2002
• Galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields
• AU-Scale Synchrotron Jets and Superluminal Ejecta in GRS 1915+105
• Observation of X-ray lines from a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB991216): Evidence of Moving Ejecta from the Progenitor
• The Signature of Supernova Ejecta Measured in the X-ray Afterglow of Gamma-Ray Burst 011211
• Absorption of High Energy Gamma Rays by Interactions With Starlight Photons in Extragalactic Space at High Redshifts and the High Energy Gamma-Ray Background
• Chandra X-ray Observations of Pictor A: High Energy Cosmic Rays in a Radio Galaxy?
• Jet Breaks in Short Gamma-Ray Bursts. II: The Collimated Afterglow of GRB 051221A
• Orphan GRB radio afterglows: Candidates and constraints on beaming
• Cosmic Rays from Microquasars: a Narrow Component to the CR Spectrum?
• Iron Emission Lines from Extended X-ray Jets in SS 433: Reheating of Atomic Nuclei
• Astrophysical Origins of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays
• A Complete Survey of the Transient Radio Sky and Implications for Gamma-Ray Bursts, Supernovae, and other Relativistic Explosions
• Photodisintegration of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays revisited
• A Search for Radio Emission from Type Ia Supernovae
• Twenty Years of Timing SS433
• Evidence of polarisation in the prompt gamma-ray emission from GRB 930131 and GRB 960924
• On the optical and X-ray afterglows of gamma ray bursts
• Infrared Echoes near the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
• Temporal properties of gamma-ray bursts as signatures of jets from the central engine
• Spectral Components of SS 433
• Life Extinctions By Cosmic Ray Bursts
• The Technical Performance of the HEGRA System of Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes
• The Luminosity Distribution of Local Group Galaxies
• Late Time Observations of the Afterglow and Environment of GRB 030329
• EGRET Gamma-Ray Blazars: Luminosity Function and Contribution to the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background
• ORIGIN OF THE HIGH ENERGY EXTRAGALACTIC DIFFUSE GAMMA RAY BACKGROUND
• On the Absorption of High Energy Gamma-Rays by Intergalactic Infrared Radiation
• Cooling flows or warming rays?
• On the origin of X-ray Flashes
• Upper limits to the SN1006 multi-TeV gamma-ray flux from H.E.S.S. observations
• Detection of X-ray Emission from the Eastern Radio Lobe of PICTOR A
• What we learn from the afterglow of GRB 021211
• Galactic gamma-ray bursters - an alternative source of cosmic rays at all energies
• Statistics of Gamma Ray Burst Temporal Asymmetry
• Molecular gas in galaxies of Hickson compact groups

Cited by in corpus (26)

• Measurements of the Cosmic Ray Composition with Air Shower Experiments
• Cosmic Rays from the Knee to the Highest Energies
• KASCADE-Grande measurements of energy spectra for elemental groups of cosmic rays
• Astrophysical implications of hypothetical stable TeV-scale black holes
• "Espresso" Acceleration of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays
• Cosmic Rays: Recent Progress and some Current Questions
• Cosmic Rays and the Search for a Lorentz Invariance Violation
• The diverse broad-band light-curves of Swift GRBs reproduced with the cannonball model
• Starburst and post-starburst high-redshift protogalaxies: The feedback impact of high energy cosmic rays
• Interactions between Ultra-High-Energy Particles and Protogalactic Environments
• Muon bundles as a sign of strangelets from the Universe
• Origin Of The High Energy Cosmic Neutrino Background
• Cosmic rays and molecular clouds
• Observational Search for PeV-EeV Tau Neutrino from GRB081203A
• Nonextensive thermal sources of cosmic rays?
• Axions and high-energy cosmic rays: Can the relic axion density be measured?
• The Cosmic-Ray Spectra: News on their Knees
• The Maximum Isotropic Equivalent Energy Of Gamma Ray Bursts
• Cosmic ray knee and new physics at the TeV scale
• Origin Of The Cosmic Ray Positrons Observed Near Earth- Meson Decay Or Dark Matter Decay?
• Correlated Spectral And Temporal Behaviour Of Late-Time Afterglows Of Gamma Ray Bursts
• Muon bundles from the Universe
• Universal Peaks Ratio In The Spectral Energy Density Of Double Hump Blazars, Gamma Ray Bursts, And Microquasars
• Problems in High Energy Astrophysics
• Some theoretical and experimental aspects of axion physics
• Axions and Cosmic Rays