Diffusion and drift of very high energy cosmic rays in galactic magnetic fields

Abstract

We consider diffusive propagation of galactic cosmic rays with energies up to 10 17 eV. It is shown that drift (Hall diffusion) of particles in the global regular magnetic field of the Galaxy may be responsible for the observed «knee» in the cosmic ray energy spectrum at 3 10 15 eV. The model implies weak energy dependence of cosmic ray diffusion along the magnetic field lines D ∞ E m , m = 0.15-0.20, for a unique power law in the entire energy range 10 9 -10 17 eV