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Interpreting the Cosmic Ray Composition
Detailed composition measurements can be a very powerful means of tracing
origins, a fact used regularly by forensic scientists and art historians. One
of the main motivating factors for making detailed observations of cosmic rays
was always the hope that a unique compositional signature could be found which
pointed unambiguously to a particular source. This has proven much harder than
expected, but we have now reached a point where it appears possible to begin to
decipher the information contained in the compositional data; the key, we have
discovered, is to read the data not in isolation, but in the context provided
by our general astronomical knowledge and by recent developments in shock
acceleration theory (Meyer, Drury and Ellison, 1997, 1998; Ellison, Drury and
Meyer, 1997). In our view (not, it is only fair to warn the reader, yet
universally accepted) the data show clearly that the Galactic cosmic ray
particles originate predominantly from the gas and dust of the general
interstellar medium.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX 2.09, 4 figure