Problems In Cosmic Ray Physics

Cosmic ray physics has recently attracted a great deal of attention from the high energy physics community because of the discovery of new sources and the advent of new techniques. The result of a series of lectures prepared for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, this book is a general introduction to experimental techniques and results in the field of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. It succinctly summarizes the rapidly developing field, and provides modern results that include data from newer detectors. Combining experiment and theory, the text explores the results of a single, easy-to-understand experiment to tie together various issues involved in the physics of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays.

This book presents more than 200 problems, with detailed guided solutions, spanning key areas of particle physics and astrophysics. The selected examples enable students to gain a deeper understanding of these fields and also offer valuable support in the preparation for written examinations. The book is an ideal companion to Introduction to Particle and Astroparticle Physics: Multimessenger Astronomy and its Particle Physics Foundations, written by Alessandro De Angelis and Mário Pimenta and published in its second edition in Springer’s Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics series in 2018. It can, however, also be used independently. The present book is organized into 11 chapters that match exactly those in the companion textbook, and each of the exercises is given a title to facilitate identification of the subject within that book. Some new exercises have been added because they are considered helpful on the basis of the experience gained by teachers while using the textbook. Beyond students on relevant courses, exercises and solutions in particle and astroparticle physics are of value for physics teachers and to all who seek aid to self-training.

In 1912 Victor Franz Hess made the revolutionary discovery that ionizing radiation is incident upon the Earth from outer space. He showed with ground-based and balloon-borne detectors that the intensity of the radiation did not change significantly between day and night. Consequently, the sun could not be regarded as the sources of this radiation and the question of its origin remained unanswered. Today, almost one hundred years later the question of the origin of the cosmic radiation still remains a mystery.Hess' discovery has given an enormous impetus to large areas of science, in particular to physics, and has played a major role in the formation of our current understanding of universal evolution. For example, the development of new fields of research such as elementary particle physics, modern astrophysics and cosmology are direct consequences of this discovery. Over the years the field of cosmic ray research has evolved in various directions: Firstly, the field of particle physics that was initiated by the discovery of many so-called elementary particles in the cosmic radiation. There is a strong trend from the accelerator physics community to reenter the field of cosmic ray physics, now under the name of astroparticle physics. Secondly, an important branch of cosmic ray physics that has rapidly evolved in conjunction with space exploration concerns the low energy portion of the cosmic ray spectrum. Thirdly, the branch of research that is concerned with the origin, acceleration and propagation of the cosmic radiation represents a great challenge for astrophysics, astronomy and cosmology. Presently very popular fields of research have rapidly evolved, such as high-energy gamma ray and neutrino astronomy. In addition, high-energy neutrino astronomy may soon initiate as a likely spin-off neutrino tomography of the Earth and thus open a unique new branch of geophysical research of the interior of the Earth. Finally, of considerable interest are the biological and medical aspects of the cosmic radiation because of it ionizing character and the inevitable irradiation to which we are exposed. This book is a reference manual for researchers and students of cosmic ray physics and associated fields and phenomena. It is not intended to be a tutorial. However, the book contains an adequate amount of background materials that its content should be useful to a broad community of scientists and professionals. The present book contains chiefly a data collection in compact form that covers the cosmic radiation in the vicinity of the Earth, in the Earth's atmosphere, at sea level and underground. Included are predominantly experimental but also theoretical data. In addition the book contains related data, definitions and important relations. The aim of this book is to offer the reader in a single volume a readily available comprehensive set of data that will save him the need of frequent time consuming literature searches.

This book is devoted to the astrophysics of cosmic rays, especially the origin of the cosmic rays observed on Earth. The problem of the propagation and acceleration of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium and, in general, in the galaxy is discussed. Topics of gamma- and X-ray astronomy and of high-energy neutrino astronomy related to cosmic rays are also discussed. Summaries of the observational and experimental results are given."

Non-accelerator particle physicists, especially those studying neutrino oscillation experiments, will read with profit the in-depth discussions of new results and their interpretations. new guidelines are also set out for new developments in this and related fields. Discussions are presented of neutrino oscillations, neutrino astronomy, high energy cosmic rays, gravitational waves, magnetic monopoles and dark matter. The future large-scale research projects discussed include the experiments on long baseline neutrino beams from CERN to Gran Sasso and Fermilab to the Soudan mine; large underwater and under-ice experiments; the highest energy cosmic rays; gravitational waves; and the search for new particles and new phenomena.