Freiburg 2008 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 5: Hauptvorträge V

T 5.1: Hauptvortrag

Freitag, 7. März 2008, 09:00–09:45, KGII-Audimax

Recent developments in High Energy Cosmic Ray Physics — •Pasquale D. Serpico — Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, Batavia, IL, USA

After a short review of the more active sectors of research (both theoretical and experimental) in cosmic ray physics, I will focus on recent results in the ultra-high energy range, concerning predictions and observations of the energy spectrum, composition and anisotropy. In particular, I shall discuss the recent findings which motivate the opening of the era of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Astronomy. For the first time since the discovery of the extraterrestrial nature of cosmic rays by Hess in 1912, the arrival directions of the highest energy events (above 6× 10¹⁹ eV) have been proven to show “structures”. Some correlation with nearby active galactic nuclei has been reported by the Auger Collaboration, although the final and unambigous identification of the sources might be challenging. Also, increasing evidence is being accumulated that already above 4× 10¹⁹ eV a peculiar clustering at intermediate angular scales is present. I will summarize the present status of the field, discuss possible interpretations of the signals, and speculate on future developments.