Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: Current understanding and future prospects

¹ Department of Material Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mohamed-Cherif Messaadia University, Souk Ahras, 41000, Algeria
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Badji Mokhtar University - P. O. Box 12, Annaba 23000, Algeria

^* e-mail: r.sedrati@univ-soukahras.dz

Published online: 6 March 2025

Abstract

In fact, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) represent the most energetic particles in the universe, thus reaching energies over a million times higher than man-made accelerators.However, even with decades of observations, their origins and acceleration mechanisms remain elusive. In virtue of which, recent data from experiments such as, the Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array, have provided important insights, detecting a flux suppression at the highest energies consistent with the GZK cutoff. Besides, this suggests an extragalactic origin, though challenges remain in discriminating between galactic and extragalactic populations together with tracing arrival directions.In closing, upcoming detector upgrades and next-generation observatories aim to enhance precision and statistics, promising to unravel these astroparticle physics mysteries.