At what energy do extragalactic cosmic rays take over from Galactic ones?

In plain words

Below some energy cosmic rays come from our own galaxy and above it from other galaxies; whether the handover happens near $10^{17}\,\mathrm{eV}$ or near $5 \times 10^{18}\,\mathrm{eV}$ (the ankle, where the spectrum flattens) is unsettled.

Precise statement

Determine the energy at which the extragalactic flux exceeds the Galactic flux, using the iron knee near $8 \times 10^{16}\,\mathrm{eV}$, the second knee near $10^{17}\text{ to }3 \times 10^{17}\,\mathrm{eV}$, the ankle near $5 \times 10^{18}\,\mathrm{eV}$, the energy dependence of the mean shower depth $X_{\max}$ and its spread (lightest composition near $2 \times 10^{18}\,\mathrm{eV}$), and the change of the dipole direction from near the Galactic center below $10^{18}\,\mathrm{eV}$ to away from it above $8 \times 10^{18}\,\mathrm{eV}$. Answer: the transition energy and the Galactic component spectrum, including whether a second Galactic population beyond the knee sources is required.

What would settle it

Mass-resolved spectra and anisotropies from $10^{16} \text{ to } 10^{19}\,\mathrm{eV}$ with overlapping detectors, fit by a two-population model with propagation.

Revision history

Results

No results have been posted on this problem yet.

Post a result · how results are checked

Sign in to follow or save this problem

See also

Comments (0)

Comments are not records: they are not signed, stamped or logged. How comments work

No comments yet.

Sign in to comment.