Tomaschitz, R. (2013). Power-law partition and entropy production of high-energy cosmic rays: Knee-ankle structure of the all-particle spectrum, Europhysics Letters (EPL) 104, 19001 (6pp), DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/104/19001
Abstract (IOPscience, EDP Sciences, SAO/NASA ADS)
A statistical description of the all-particle cosmic-ray spectrum is given in the 10^{14}\ \text{eV} to 10^{20}\ \text{eV} interval. The high-energy cosmic-ray flux is modeled as an ultra-relativistic multi-component plasma, whose components constitute a mixture of nearly ideal but nonthermal gases of low density and high temperature. Each plasma component is described by an ultra-relativistic power-law density manifested as spectral peak in the wideband fit. The “knee” and “ankle” features of the high– and ultra-high–energy spectrum turn out to be the global and local extrema of the double-logarithmic E3-scaled flux representation in which the spectral fit is performed. The all-particle spectrum is covered by recent data sets from several air shower arrays, and can be modeled as three-component plasma in the indicated energy range extending over six decades. The temperature, specific number density, internal energy and entropy of each plasma component are extracted from the partial fluxes in the broadband fit. The grand partition function and the extensive entropy functional of a non-equilibrated gas mixture with power-law components are derived in phase space by ensemble averaging.
98.70.Sa Cosmic rays (including sources, origin, acceleration, and interactions)
52.25.Kn Thermodynamics of plasmas
95.30.Tg Thermodynamic processes, conduction, convection, equations of state
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Title: |
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Power-law partition and entropy production of high-energy cosmic rays: Knee-ankle structure of the all-particle spectrum |
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Authors: |
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Tomaschitz, Roman |
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AA(Department of Physics, Hiroshima University - 1-3-1 Kagami-yama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan) |
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Publication: |
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Europhysics Letters, Volume 104, Issue 1, article id. 19001 (2013). |
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Publication Date: |
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10/2013 |
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description: Roman Tomaschitz (2013) Power-law partition and entropy production of high-energy cosmic rays: Knee-ankle structure of the all-particle spectrum, EPL 104, 19001.
Keywords: mixtures of ultra-relativistic gases, stationary non-equilibrium, entropy of nonthermal gas mixture, classical power-law ensembles in phase space, grand partition function of mixtures with power-law components, extensive entropy functional, ultra-relativistic power-law densities, high- and ultra-high–energy cosmic rays, multi-component plasma, all-particle cosmic-ray spectrum, global and local extrema of the high-energy cosmic-ray flux, primary and secondary knees and ankles of the cosmic-ray flux, thermodynamic parameters (temperature, partial entropies and number densities) of the multi-component cosmic-ray plasma
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