Speaker
Angela Olinto
Description
The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays is still a great mystery.
Recent observations have confirmed the extragalactic origin of cosmic
rays above tens of EeV, whose sources should be among the most powerful
extragalactic objects. The spectrum shows the effect of propagation from
cosmological distances or possibly the maximum energy reach of cosmic
accelerators. The lack of significant anisotropies and a possible change
of composition are surprising. Not a single source of these extremely
energetic events has been identified. To identify the sources a
significant increase in statistics is necessary. The pioneering Extreme
Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) on the Japanese Experiment Module
(JEM) of the International Space Station, JEM-EUSO, will detect a large
number of extreme energy cosmic rays finally leading to a identification
of these mysterious extreme accelerators.
