Acceleration and transport of energetic charged particles in space (Q5952676)

The observed energy spectrum of charged energetic particles (cosmic rays) seems to be quite smooth. This suggests a common mechanism responsible for particles of all energies up to \(10^{20}\)\,eV energies or more. The arrival directions are distributed evenly, the observed anisotropies are quite small even at energies of the order of \(10^{18}\)\,eV. Here various scenarios of acceleration are discussed, among others the second-order Fermi acceleration, shocks and cosmic-ray viscosity. It is concluded that the most likely mechanism of acceleration of the most energetic particles to high energies is the diffusive shock acceleration. The benefit of this mechanism is that it produces a power-law energy spectrum with a spectral index very insensitive to parameters, and it is close in magnitude to that observed in a variety of contexts. It is also reasonably fast and efficient. As one example of the success of this picture the cosmic rays of the heliosphere are discussed.