Acceleration and propagation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent experimental and theoretical advances in understanding the origin, acceleration, and propagation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, highlighting key findings like energy cut-offs and anisotropies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive summary of recent experimental results and theoretical insights into the origins and behavior of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays.

Findings

Detection of a cut-off at the expected GZK suppression energy

Evidence for large scale anisotropies in cosmic ray arrival directions

Advances in understanding cosmic ray acceleration mechanisms

Abstract

The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays represents one of the most conspicuous enigmas of modern astrophysics, in spite of gigantic experimental efforts in the past fifty years, and of active theoretical research. The past decade has known exciting experimental results, most particularly the detection of a cut-off at the expected position for the long sought Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin suppression as well as evidence for large scale anisotropies. This paper summarizes and discusses recent achievements in this field.