Abstract
Cosmic rays are often defined as charged particles that reach the Earth from interstellar space. This definition describes correctly the majority of the cosmic ray particles which do consist of fully charged nuclei. At GeV energy the flux of hydrogen and helium nuclei dominate all other species. The chemical composition of cosmic rays extends to very high masses and we believe that cosmic rays include in various degrees all stable nuclei. In addition there is a steady flux of electrons which are also included in the above definition. Other, although not very common, components represent anti-matter — these are the antiprotons and positively charged electrons — positrons.
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© 2010 Praxis Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK
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Stanev, T. (2010). Overview. In: High Energy Cosmic Rays. Springer Praxis Books. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85148-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85148-6_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-85147-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-85148-6
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