The Source Energy Spectrum of Cosmic Rays

R. W. Clay

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 19(2) 228 - 232
Published: 30 August 2002

Abstract

An examination is made of the relationship between the observed energy spectrum of cosmic rays and the averaged spectrum of the cosmic rays at their sources. These spectra differ greatly, due to propagation effects. A form of the source spectrum is deduced which is a rather featureless power law over the full range of observations from 10¹⁰ eV to 10²⁰ eV. We suggest that this lack of features is indicative of a common source for all cosmic rays over the full energy range, as opposed to lower energy Galactic and higher energy intergalactic components such as is often suggested.

Keywords: cosmic ray spectrum — cosmic ray propagation — cosmic ray origins

Full text doi:10.1071/AS01064

© ASA 2002