6 research outputs found
Galactic Cosmic Rays - Theory and Interpretation
The arguments surrounding the Galactic component of the cosmic rays, the
energy budget, questions of composition, spectral features, anisotropy, sources
etc, will be critically examined. We are moving into a new phase in the study
of the Galactic cosmic rays where it is becoming clear that precision
measurements are revealing new, and in some cases unexpected, features which
are forcing us to develop more sophisticated models for their production and
propagation. The fundamental concepts however appear to be quite solid and have
changed remarkably little in the more than fifty years since Ginzburg and
Syrovatskii's classic "The Origin of Cosmic Rays".Comment: Community peer review solicited - final version due for submission
mid Se
Galactic Cosmic Rays from Supernova Remnants (I) - a Cosmic Ray Composition controlled by Volatility and Mass-to-Charge Ratio
This is the first of a series of papers analysing the Galactic Cosmic Ray
composition and origin. We show that the Galactic Cosmic Ray source (GCRS)
composition is best described in terms of (i) a general enhancement of the
refractory elements relative to the volatile ones, and (ii) among the volatile
elements, an enhancement of the heavier elements relative to the lighter ones;
this mass dependence most likely reflects a mass-to-charge (A/Q) dependence of
the acceleration efficiency; among the refractory elements, there is NO such
enhancement of heavier species, or only a much weaker one. We regard as
coincidental the similarity between the GCRS composition and that of the solar
corona, which is biased according to first ionization potential. In a companion
paper, this GCRS composition is interpreted in terms of an acceleration by
supernova shock waves of interstellar and/or circumstellar (eg Ne22 rich
Wolf-Rayet wind) gas-phase and especially dust material.Comment: 23 pages plain TeX and 6 postscript figures, to appear in ApJ, also
available from ftp://wonka.physics.ncsu.edu/pub/elliso