Abstract
EVIDENCE on whether the majority of detected cosmic rays originate in our Galaxy has been inconclusive: arguments based on the abundance of uranium nuclei, the power available in supernovae, γ-ray emission, the absence of a 1020 eV cutoff, and the galactic origin of the electron component all involve uncertainties; but in each case a galactic origin seems to offer a more probable interpretation than an extragalactic origin. Near isotropy has until now been the discordant feature. Work by Krasilnikov et al.1 and Bell et al.2 now suggests that the arrival directions of the most energetic cosmic rays are almost certainly highly anisotropic. Although the distribution of arrival directions is quite different from that predicted by Karakula et al.3 for particles from galactic sources, we point out here that the evidence now indicates strongly a galactic origin for even the most energetic cosmic rays that reach us; we also suggest that there is a very extensive ordered magnetic field outside the plane of our Galaxy.
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HILLAS, A., OULDRIDGE, M. Cosmic rays and the Galaxy. Nature 253, 609–610 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/253609a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/253609a0
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