Cosmic Rays and Particle Physics

Incorporating recent discoveries in particle astrophysics, this updated edition provides an overview of high-energy cosmic rays, gamma-ray and neutrino astronomy.

Thomas K. Gaisser (Author), Ralph Engel (Author), Elisa Resconi (Author)

9780521016469, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 June 2016

456 pages, 160 b/w illus. 19 tables
25.3 x 17.8 x 2.5 cm, 1.05 kg

'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

Fully updated for the second edition, this book introduces the growing and dynamic field of particle astrophysics. It provides an overview of high-energy nuclei, photons and neutrinos, including their origins, their propagation in the cosmos, their detection on Earth and their relation to each other. Coverage is expanded to include new content on high energy physics, the propagation of protons and nuclei in cosmic background radiation, neutrino astronomy, high-energy and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, sources and acceleration mechanisms, and atmospheric muons and neutrinos. Readers are able to master the fundamentals of particle astrophysics within the context of the most recent developments in the field. This book will benefit graduate students and established researchers alike, equipping them with the knowledge and tools needed to design and interpret their own experiments and, ultimately, to address a number of questions concerning the nature and origins of cosmic particles that have arisen in recent research.

Preface to the first edition
Preface to the second edition
1. Cosmic rays
2. Cosmic ray data
3. Particle physics
4. Hadronic interactions and accelerator data
5. Cascade equations
6. Atmospheric muons and neutrinos
7. Neutrino masses and oscillations
8. Muons and neutrinos underground
9. Cosmic rays in the Galaxy
10. Extragalactic propagation of cosmic rays
11. Astrophysical - rays and neutrinos
12. Acceleration
13. Supernovae in the Milky Way
14. Astrophysical accelerators and beam dumps
15. Electromagnetic cascades
16. Extensive air showers
17. Very high energy cosmic rays
18. Neutrino astronomy
A.1. Units, constants and definitions
A.2. References to flux measurements
A.3. Particle flux, density, and interaction cross section
A.4. Fundamentals of scattering theory
A.5. Regge amplitude
A.6. Glauber model of nuclear cross sections
A.7. Earth's atmosphere
A.8. Longitudinal development of air showers
A.9. Secondary positrons and electrons
A.10. Liouville's theorem and cosmic ray propagation
A.11. Cosmology and distances measures
A.12. The Hillas splitting algorithm
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Physics [PH], Cosmology & the universe [PGK], Astronomy, space & time [PG], Mathematics & science [P]