Telescope Array Observatory observations of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin effect

摘要

The enigma of the origin of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is one of the most interesting and important unsolved problems of particle astrophysics. The center of attention in this research field is the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) effect. Recently, the Telescope Array (TA) observatory, the largest observatory in the northern hemi-sphere of Earth, studying the origin of UHECRs, began to operate in the state of Utah (USA). In this report, we consider the fundamentals of the GZK effect, its history and present observational status, and preliminary results obtained at the TA observatory, including the energy spectrum, composition, and the results of investigations of the arrival directions of initial UHECR particles.