Origin and propagation of extremely high-energy cosmic rays

Abstract

Cosmic-ray particles with energies in excess of 10 20 eV have been detected. The sources as well as the physical mechanism(s) responsible for endowing cosmic-ray particles with such enormous energies are unknown. This report gives a review of the physics and astrophysics associated with the questions of origin and propagation of these extremely high-energy (EHE) cosmic-rays in the Universe. After a brief review of the observed cosmic rays in general and their possible sources and acceleration mechanisms, a detailed discussion is given of possible “top-down” ( non-acceleration) scenarios of origin of EHE cosmic rays through decay of sufficiently massive particles originating from processes in the early Universe. The massive particles can come from collapse and/or annihilation of cosmic topological defects (such as monopoles, cosmic strings, etc.) associated with Grand Unified Theories or they could be some long-lived metastable supermassive relic particles that were created in the early Universe and are decaying in the current epoch. The highest energy end of the cosmic-ray spectrum can thus be used as a probe of new fundamental physics beyond Standard Model. We discuss the role of existing and proposed cosmic-ray, gamma-ray and neutrino experiments in this context. We also discuss how observations with next generation experiments of images and spectra of EHE cosmic-ray sources can be used to obtain new information on Galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields and possibly their origin.