Cosmicray Physics Group

"Galactic cosmic rays consist of protons, electrons and ions, most of which are believed to be accelerated to relativistic speeds in supernova remnants^{1, 2, 3}. All components of the cosmic rays show an intensity that decreases as a power law with increasing energy (for example as E^-2.7). Electrons in particular lose energy rapidly through synchrotron and inverse Compton processes, resulting in a relatively short lifetime (about 10⁵ years) and a rapidly falling intensity, which raises the possibility of seeing the contribution from individual nearby sources (less than one kiloparsec away)⁴." Nature 456, 362-365 (20 November 2008)

Read More: An excess of cosmic ray electrons at energies of 300–800 GeV, November 19, 2008