The Origin of the Knee in the Cosmic-Ray Energy Spectrum

2001/03/28 by A. D. Erlykin, Erlykin, A. D., A. W. Wolfendale +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0103477

4/ pages, 3 figures, submitted to Proceedings of Rencontres de Moriond, 'Very High Energy Phenomena in the Universe', Les Arcs 1800, January 20-27, 2001

arxiv created 2001/05/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01

Abstract

A sudden steepening of the cosmic-ray energy spectrum (the knee) is observed at an energy of about 3 PeV (1 PeV = 10¹⁵eV). The recent results on extensive air showers allow us to conclude that: a) the knee has an astrophysical origin; b) the 'sharpness' and the fine structure of the knee rule out 'Galactic Modulation' as the origin of the knee; c) most likely the knee is the result of the explosion of a single, recent, nearby supernova.

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