Speaker
Description
Despite the enormous efforts done in very recent years, both theoretically and experimentally, the basic three questions about the CR origin remain without clear answers: what are their sources, how are they accelerated, how do they propagate?
Gamma-ray astronomy plays a fundamental role in this field. Both relativistic protons and electrons can emit in the gamma-ray band with different processes but only the detection of hadronic gamma-ray emission is a direct proof of Cosmic-Ray acceleration. Distinguishing leptonic and hadronic components is one of the most tricky issues in the high energy astrophysics, however, a gamma-ray detection at about 100 TeV would be a direct proof of the hadronic origin of the emission. Consequently, not only it would directly confirm the presence of CR acceleration in a source but also it gives us a large amount of information about their sources, their parent protons and their propagation.The ASTRI Mini-Array, with its unprecedented sensitivity at E > 10 TeV, will provide a fundamental contribution to close some of the most important CR open issues.
