[net.physics] Cosmic Rays and Background Radiation

crummer@AEROSPACE.ARPA (06/18/85)

From:  Charlie Crummer <crummer@AEROSPACE.ARPA>

The 3 degree Kelvin background is universe-wide.  Cosmic rays are charged
particles or ions that get accelerated by some mysterious means or other
(Maybe Uri Geller or something.).  They have a spectrum of energies, of
course,  but some of them have truly large energies (like 10^20 Gev).
Where a typical high energy event generated by an accelerator will have 
maybe 15 prongs, a typical cosmic ray may have over 100 daughter particles.

  --Charlie

  P.S. Cosmic rays are NOT the background radiation.

  --C