Gamma-ray bursts are known to be sources of high-energy γ rays, and are likely to be sources of high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. Following a short review of observations of GRBs at multi-MeV energies and above, the physics of leptonic and hadronic models of GRBs is summarized. Evidence for two components in BATSE and EGRET/TASC data suggest that GRBs are sources of high-energy cosmic rays...

We present a numerical algorithm for the incorporation of the active cosmic ray transport, into the ZEUS-3D magnetohydrodynamical code. The cosmic ray transport is described by the diffusion-advection equation. The applied form of the diffusion tensor allows for anisotropic diffusion of cosmic rays along and across the magnetic field direction, which is controlled by two parameters: the paralle...

A recent re-determination of the non-thermal component of the hard X-ray to soft γ-ray emission from the Galactic ridge, using the SPI instrument on the INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) Observatory, is shown to be well reproduced as inverse-Compton emission from the interstellar medium. Both cosmic-ray primary electrons and secondary electrons and positrons contribute ...

limate change driven by the sun, constitutes a strongly competitive hypothesis to the climate modeling-political hypothesis of human-caused global warming. As many scientists have documented, the position and orientation of the Earth in its orbit around the sun and the sun’s variable activity determine weather and climate [1]. As part of this process, oceans store enormous amounts of solar ener...

This rapporteur review covers selected results presented in the Parallel Session HEA2 (High Energy Astrophysics 2) of the 10th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2003. The subtopics are: ultra high energy cosmic ray anisotropies, the possible connection of these energetic particles with powerful gamma ray bursts, and new exciting scenarios with ...

The spatial clustering of galaxies in galaxy clusters implies that the background of infrared (IR) light in the intracluster medium (ICM) may exceed the universal background. Cosmic rays injected within the ICM propagate diffusively and at low enough energies are trapped there for cosmological times. The photopion production interactions of cosmic rays with the IR photons are responsible for th...

Recently, interesting 4-D Lorentz violating models have been proposed, in which all particles have a common maximum velocity c, but gravity propagates (in the preferred frame) with a different maximum velocity cg 6= c. We show that the case cg < c is very tightly constrained by the observation of the highest energy cosmic rays. Assuming a galactic origin for the cosmic rays gives a conservative...

We discuss the region of transition between galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays. The exact shapes and compositions of these two components contains information about important parameters of powerful astrophysical sources and the conditions in extragalactic space as well as for the cosmological evolution of the sources of high energy cosmic rays. Several types of experimental data, including ...

Gas-phase chemistry in the interstellar medium is driven by fast ion-molecule reactions. This, of course, demands a mechanism for ionization, and cosmic rays are the ideal candidate as they can operate throughout the majority of both diffuse and dense interstellar clouds. Aside from driving interstellar chemistry via ionization, cosmic rays also interact with the interstellar medium in ways tha...