1998/02/23 by Shigeru Yoshida, Hongyue Dai · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0954-3899/24/5/002
published as J.Phys.G24:905-938,1998 · The review paper including 21 figures. 39 pages: To be published in Journal of Physics G
arxiv created 1998/02/23 · openalex publication_date 1998/05/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Experimental results from Haverah Park, Yakutsk, AGASA and Fly's Eye are reviewed. All these experiments work in the energy range above eV. The `dip' structure around eV in the energy spectrum is well established by all the experiments, though the exact position differs slightly. Fly's Eye and Yakutsk results on the chemical composition indicate that the cosmic rays are getting lighter over the energy range from eV to eV, but the exact fraction is hadronic interaction model dependent, as indicated by the AGASA analysis. The arrival directions of cosmic rays are largely isotropic, but interesting features may be starting to emerge. Most of the experimental results can best be explained with the scenario that an extragalactic component gradually takes over a galactic population as energy increases and cosmic rays at the highest energies are dominated by particles coming from extragalactic space. However, identification of the extragalactic sources has not yet been successful because of limited statistics and the resolution of the data.