Opportunities in Cosmic-Ray Physics and Astrophysics

• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• 1 Overview-The Energetic Universe
  • 1.1 Scope of this report.

  • 1.2 Organization of this report

• 2 Cosmic-Ray Composition from Direct Observations
  • 2.1 Heavy elements in the cosmic rays

  • 2.2 Cosmic-ray isotopes

  • 2.3 Electrons, positrons, and antiprotons

  • 2.4 Future programs

• 3 A Model of Cosmic-Ray Origin
  • 3.1 Spectrum of the sources

  • 3.2 The evidence from gamma-ray and radio astronomy

  • 3.3 Limitations of the supernova model

• 4 Exploring the Supernova Scale
  • 4.1 Cosmic-ray spectrum above 100 TeV

  • 4.2 What will we learn?

  • 4.3 An experimental program
    • 4.3.1 Extending direct measurements to 1015 eV

    • 4.3.2 Composition at the knee from air-shower experiments

  • 4.4 Simulations

• 5 The Highest Energies
  • 5.1 Spectrum

  • 5.2 Composition

  • 5.3 The highest-energy events

  • 5.4 Future prospects

• 6 Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray and Neutrino Astronomy
  • 6.1 Scientific potential
    • 6.1.1 Galactic sources

    • 6.1.2 Extragalactic sources

  • 6.2 Detection techniques

  • 6.3 Existing detectors
    • 6.3.1 Gamma-ray telescopes (TeV energies)

    • 6.3.2 Air-shower detectors

    • 6.3.3 Neutrino detectors

  • 6.4 Future Prospects

  • 6.4.1 Gamma-ray astronomy

  • 6.4.2 Neutrino astronomy: Kilometer-scale high-energy neutrino telescope

• 7 Long-duration Ballooning
  • 7.1 Status of long-duration ballooning (LDB)
    • 7.1.1 Southern Hemisphere launch sites

    • 7.1.2 Northern Hemisphere launch sites

    • 7.1.3 Future possibilities

  • 7.2 Developing the payloads

  • 7.3 An example

  • 7.4 Conclusion

• 8. Interdisciplinary Aspects
  • 8.1 Cosmic rays in the heliosphere

  • 8.2 Particle physics

  • 8.3 Antimatter

  • 8.4 Dark matter

• 9. Recommendations
  • 9.1 Priorities

  • 9.2 Theory

  • 9.3 Large international projects

  • 9.4 Interdisciplinary and interagency projects

  • 9.5 Future directions

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