Cosmic Rays and Particle Physics

by Thomas K. Gaisser

Overview

Over recent years there has been marked growth in interest in the study of techniques of cosmic ray physics by astrophysicists and particle physicists. Cosmic radiation is important for the astrophysicist because in the farther reaches of the universe. For particle physicists, it provides the opportunity to study neutrinos and very high energy particles of galactic origin. More importantly, cosmic rays constitue the background, and in some cases possibly the signal, for the more exotic unconfirmed hypothesized particles such as monopoles and sparticles. Concentrating on the highest energy cosmic rays, this book describes where they originate, acquire energy, and interact, in accreting neutron stars, supernova remnants, in large-scale shock waves. It also describes their interactions in the atmosphere and in the earth, how they are studied in surface and very large underground detectors, and what they tell us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521339315
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/25/1991
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Thomas K. Gaisser is Martin A. Pomerantz Professor of Physics at the University of Delaware. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt prize. His research at the Bartol Research Institute in the Department of Physics and Astronomy includes cosmic ray physics, atmospheric neutrinos and neutrino astronomy.

Ralph Engel is a researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Physics and at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, where he specialises in the development of hadronic interaction models and their application to astrophysical questions. He is the author or co-author of a number of simulation codes commonly applied in cosmic ray physics, including DPMJET, CONEX, SOFIA and Sibyll.

Elisa Resconi is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the Technische Universität München, where she focuses on the development of photosensors, the physics of neutrino oscillations and the search for neutrino point sources. She is a recipient of the Emmy-Noether grant and the Heisenberg professorship.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Cosmic rays; 2. Particle physics; 3. Cascade equations; 4. Hadrons and photons; 5. Accelerator data; 6. Muons; 7. Neutrinos; 8. Neutrino-induced muons; 9. Propagation; 10. Gamma rays and antiprotons; 11. Acceleration; 12. Acceleration to >100 TeV; 13. Astrophysical beam dumps; 14. Air showers; 15. Electromagnetic cascades; 16. Cosmic ray showers; 17. Simulation techniques; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'With more than 25 years since the first edition, this second edition … has been revised and extended by about 150 pages to account for the progress and important discoveries made in the field since then. These comprise the famous neutrino oscillations, the cutoff in ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray spectra, Tera-electronvolt gamma rays from galactic sources and the unexpected excess of high-energy positrons and astrophysical neutrinos. … The text is well written and presents all material with mathematical rigour and a large number of references to scientific publications … The text is accompanied by numerous black-and-white figures, mainly of spectra. It has an appendix with additional material and a helpful index. … It can be recommended mainly for graduate students and researchers from both theory and experiment who want a thorough introduction to the phenomenology and to the theoretical background of cosmic ray physics at the junction of particle physics and astronomy.' Manuel Vogel, Contemporary Physics

From the Publisher