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Interesting data on Gamma Ray Burts (GRBs) and Cosmic Rays (CRs) have recently been made public. GRB221009A has a record ``peak energy". The CR electron spectrum has been measured to unprecedented high energies and exhibits a ``knee" akin to the ones in all-particle or individual-element CR nuclei. IceCube has not seen high-energy neutrinos associated with GRBs. AMS has published a CR positron spectrum conducive to much speculation. We examine these data in the light of the ``CannonBall Model" of GRBs and CRs, in which they are intimately related and which they do strongly validate., Comment: 8 pages, 13 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1802.06626

This event, so far unique, beautifully confirmed the standard views on the gravitational waves produced by a merger of two neutron stars, but its electromagnetic multi-wavelenth observations disagreed with the numerous initial versions of the "standard fireball model(s)" of gamma ray bursts. Contrariwise, they provided strong evidence in favour of the "cannonball" model. Most uncontroversially, a cannonball was observed at radio wavelengths, with an overwhelming statistical significance ($>\! 17\,\sigma$), and travelling in the plane of the sky, as expected, at an apparent superluminal velocity $V_{app}\sim 4\, c$., Comment: A talk, based on arXiv:1810.03514 and arXiv:2204.04128, at the La Thuile 2022 conference, to be published in a special issue of Nuovo Cimento C

It has been observationally established that supernovae (SNe) of Type Ic produce long duration gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and that neutron star mergers generate short hard GRBs. SN-Less GRBs presumably originate in a phase transition of a neutron star in a high mass X-ray binary. How these phenomena actually generate GRBs is debated. The fireball and cannonball models of GRBs and their afterglows have been widely confronted with the huge observational data, with their defenders claiming success. The claims, however, may reflect multiple choices and the use of many adjustable parameters, rather than the validity of the models. Only a confrontation of key falsifiable predictions of the models with solid observational data can test their validity. Such critical tests are reviewed in this report., Comment: An updated rendering of arXiv:1810.03514 with an extra author

A view on the history and current status of dark matter and dark energy, at a fairly introductory level., Comment: 26 pages. 11 figures. References added

Half a century after a man first set foot on the moon it is interesting to revisit the occasion with a measure of hindsight. From the point of view of basic science the greatest achievement concerned the implementation of the Nordtvedt test, a precise check of Einstein's strong equivalence principle. A particle physicist may bravely interpret the result as a precise measurement of the triple-graviton coupling. Other not so profound experiments were also (unofficially) made in Apollo flights, such as a long-distance test of ESP (yes! extra sensory perception). From a sociopolitical point of view the lesson concerns the feats that can be achieved by a determined and united country... or more than one., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. Extended version of an article published in Inference

We discuss an experiment to investigate neutrino physics at the LHC in Run 3, with emphasis on tau flavour. As described in our previous paper [arXiv:1903.06564v1], the detector can be installed in the decommissioned TI18 tunnel, about 480 m downstream the ATLAS cavern, after the first bending dipoles of the LHC arc. In that location, the prolongation of the beam Line-of-Sight from Interaction Point IP1 to TI18 traverses about 100 m of rock. The detector intercepts the intense neutrino flux, generated by the LHC beams colliding in IP1, at large pseudorapidity eta, where neutrino energies can exceed a TeV. This paper focuses on optimizing global features of the experiment, like detector mass and acceptance. Since the neutrino-nucleon interaction cross section grows almost linearly with energy, the detector can be light and still collect a considerable sample of neutrino events; in the present study it weighs less than 3 tons. The detector is positioned off the beam axis, slightly above the ideal prolongation of the LHC beam from the straight section, covering 7.4 < eta < 9.2. In this configuration, the flux at high energies (0.5-1.5 TeV and beyond) is found to be dominated by neutrinos originating directly from IP1, mostly from charm decays, of which about 50% are electron neutrinos and about 5% are tau neutrinos. The contribution of pion and kaon decays to the muon neutrino flux is studied by means of simulations that embed the LHC optics and found small at high energies. The above studies indicate that with 150 /fb of delivered LHC luminosity in Run 3 the experiment can record a few thousand very high energy neutrino charged current interactions and over 50 tau neutrino charged current events., Comment: 2+20 pages, 15 figures. It is a follow-up of paper arXiv:1903.06564v1 (2019/03/05). arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1910.11340

Whenever one has witnessed some event and then sees it reported in the media, one's reaction is the same: "it was not quite like that". It is in this spirit of a frequent first-hand witness that I write this article. I discuss a few selected points which --to my judgement-- illustrate well the QCD evolution (in time) from the theoretical, phenomenological and experimental points of view., Comment: Submitted for publication in IJMPA. 40 pages, 27 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1610.07466, arXiv:hep-ph/0404215

XSEN (Cross Section of Energetic Neutrinos) is a small experiment designed to study, for the first time, neutrino-nucleon interactions (including the tau flavour) in the 0.5-1 TeV neutrino energy range. The detector will be installed in the decommissioned TI18 tunnel and uses nuclear emulsions. Its simplicity allows construction and installation before the LHC Run 3, 2021-2023; with 150/fb in Run3, the experiment can record up to two thousand neutrino interactions, and up to a hundred tau neutrino events. The XSEN detector intercepts the intense neutrino flux, generated by the LHC beams colliding in IP1, at large pseudo-rapidities, where neutrino energies can exceed the TeV. Since the neutrino-N interaction cross section grows almost linearly with energy, the detector can be light and still collect a considerable sample of neutrino interactions. In our proposal, the detector weighs less than 3 tons. It is lying slightly above the ideal prolongation of the LHC beam from the straight section; this configuration, off the beam axis, although very close to it, enhances the contribution of neutrinos from c and b decays, and consequently of tau neutrinos. The detector fits in the TI18 tunnel without modifications. We plan for a demonstrator experiment in 2021 with a small detector of about 0.5 tons; with 25/fb, nearly a hundred interactions of neutrinos of about 1 TeV can be recorded. The aim of this pilot run is a good in-situ characterisation of the machine-generated backgrounds, an experimental verification of the systematic uncertainties and efficiencies, and a tuning of the emulsion analysis infrastructure and efficiency. This Letter provides an overview of the experiment motivations, location, design constraints, technology choice, and operation.

The flux of cosmic-ray high-energy positrons has recently been measured by AMS with unprecedented precision. This flux is well above the expectation from secondary positrons made by the observed fluxes of nuclear cosmic rays impinging on the interstellar medium. Various authors have pointed out that the positron excess may originate at the primary cosmic-ray source itself, rather than in the more local ISM, thus avoiding the temptation to invoke a dark-matter decay or annihilation origin, or nearby pulsars. We investigate the possibility that the source is the one of a comprehensive model of gamma-ray bursts and cosmic rays, proposed two decades ago. The result, based on the original unmodified priors of the model --and with no fitting of parameters-- very closely reproduces the shape and magnitude of the AMS observations., Comment: Typos corrected. Minor clarifications; 6 pages, 5 figures

In a comprehensive model of Cosmic Rays (CRs) proposed a decade ago, the energies of the spectral "knees" of the various CR species were predicted to be proportional to mass, rather than charge. The model also predicts the knees to occur at an energy of two to four million times the particle's rest mass. Recent data allow one to verify this prediction, particularly for Fe and lighter-nuclei CRs. But the most stringent test involves the putative knee in the CR electron spectrum, since the mass ratio of electrons to protons (and nuclei) is so very different from their charge ratio(s). Very recent results on the spectra of positrons and electrons at the highest measured energies corroborate the existence of an electron knee, with the expected shape and at the predicted energy., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Note added on new CALET data. Published in PLB with cruel and unusual delay

The rich and complex data obtained from multi-wavelength observations of SHB170817A, the short hard gamma ray burst (SHB) associated with GW170817 --the first neutron stars merger event detected in gravitational waves (GWs)-- are analyzed in the framework of the cannonball model of SHBs. In this model a highly relativistic jet is launched by fall back matter on the nascent neutron star (or black hole) into a surrounding glory (light from the surrounding wind nebula of the binary neutron stars) which was present already before the merger. The SHB was produced by inverse Compton scattering of glory photons by the jet, which was viewed far off-axis. The fading glory, which produced the initial UVOIR afterglow, was powered by a neutron star remnant. It was overtaken by a late time X-ray, UVOIR and radio afterglow produced by synchrotron radiation from the decelerating jet in the interstellar medium of the host galaxy. If the radio afterglow of SHB170817A was indeed produced by the jet, it should display a superluminal motion relative to the SHB location, still detectable in VLA and VLBI radio observations., Comment: 11 pages 12 figures, revised after remarks by a referee

These are excerpts from the closing talk at the "XIIth Conference on Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum", which took place last Summer in Thessaloniki --an excellent place to enjoy an interest in archeology. A more complete personal view of the early days of QCD and the rest of the Standard Model is given in [1]. Here I discuss a few of the points which --to my judgement-- illustrate well the QCD evolution (in time), both from a scientific and a sociological point of view., Comment: Added Acknowledgments. Added references in Section 2 and Fig. 7. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:hep-ph/0404215

The late-time high-resolution X-ray and radio observations of GRB980425/SN1998bw, the closest known gamma ray burst (GRB) associated with a supernova (SN) explosion, may have actually resolved the hyperluminal source that produced the GRB and its afterglow. Its hyperluminal speed ~350c is consistent with that expected in the cannonball (CB) model of GRBs. The observed superluminal expansion of the late-time radio image of GRB030329/SN2003dh, the GRB with the brightest and longest followed up radio afterglow to date, is also consistent with that expected in the CB model of GRBs and extrapolates to an apparent early-time hyperluminal expansion., Comment: Submitted to PRL

The electron-neutrino mass (or masses and mixing angles) may be directly measurable in weak electron-capture decays. The favoured experimental technique is "calorimetric". The optimal nuclide is $^{163}$Ho, and several experiments (ECHo, HOLMES and NuMECS) are currently studying its decay. The most relevant range of the calorimetric-energy spectrum extends for the last few hundred eV below its endpoint. It has not yet been well measured. We explore the theory, mainly in the cited range, of electron capture in $^{163}$Ho decay. A so far neglected process turns out to be most relevant: electron-capture accompanied by the shake-off of a second electron. Our two main conclusions are very encouraging: the counting rate close to the endpoint may be more than an order of magnitude larger than previously expected; the "pile-up" problem may be significantly reduced., Comment: Clarifying changes suggested by a referee. Results unchanged. 14 pages, 15 figures

It is in principle possible to measure directly the electron neutrino mass (or masses and mixing angles) in weak electron-capture decays. The optimal nuclide in this respect is $^{163}$Ho. The favoured experimental technique, currently pursued in various experiments (ECHo, HOLMES and NuMECS) is "calorimetric". The calorimetric energy spectrum is a sum over the unstable vacant orbitals, or "holes", left by the electrons weakly captured by the nucleus. We discuss the current progress in this field and analize the preliminary data. Our conclusion is that, as pointed out by Robertson, the contribution of two-hole states is not negligible. But --in strong contradistinction with the tacit conclusion of previous comparisons of theory and observations-- we find a quite satisfactory agreement. A crucial point is that, in the creation of secondary holes, electron shakeoff and not only electron shakeup must be taken into account., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Section IV and Fig.3 added. Minor text modifications

The third Workshop of the NuMass series ("The Future of Neutrino Mass Measurements: Terrestrial, Astrophysical, and Cosmological Measurements in the Next Decade: NuMass 2013") was held at Dipartimento di Fisica "G. Occhialini, University of Milano-Bicocca in Milano, Italy, on 4-7 February 2013. The goal of this international workshop was to review the status and future of direct and indirect neutrino mass measurements in the laboratory as well as from astrophysical and cosmological observations. This paper collects most of the contributions presented during the Workshop.

Three decades ago, the measurement of the electron neutrino mass in atomic electron capture (EC) experiments was scrutinized in its two variants: single EC and neutrino-less double EC. For certain isotopes an atomic resonance enormously enhances the expected decay rates. The favoured technique, based on calorimeters as opposed to spectrometers, has the advantage of greatly simplifying the theoretical analysis of the data. After an initial surge of measurements, the EC approach did not seem to be competitive. But very recently, there has been great progress on micro-calorimeters and the measurement of atomic mass differences. Meanwhile, the beta-decay neutrino-mass limits have improved by a factor of 15, and the difficulty of the experiments by the cube of that figure. Can the "calorimetric" EC theory cope with this increased challenge? I answer this question affirmatively. In so doing I briefly review the subject and extensively address some persistent misunderstandings of the underlying quantum physics., Comment: 11 pages. 17 figures

The discovery or exclusion of the fundamental standard scalar is a hot topic, given the data of LEP, the Tevatron and the LHC, as well as the advanced status of the pertinent theoretical calculations. With the current statistics at the hadron colliders, the workhorse decay channel, at all relevant H masses, is H to WW, followed by W to light leptons. Using phase-space singularity techniques, we construct and study a plethora of "singularity variables" meant to facilitate the difficult tasks of separating signal and backgrounds and of measuring the mass of a putative signal. The simplest singularity variables are not invariant under boosts along the collider's axes and the simulation of their distributions requires a good understanding of parton distribution functions, perhaps not a serious shortcoming during the boson hunting season. The derivation of longitudinally boost-invariant variables, which are functions of the four charged-lepton observables that share this invariance, is quite elaborate. But their use is simple and they are, in a kinematical sense, optimal., Comment: 19 pages, including 21 figures

The traditional method to measure the W-Boson mass at a hadron collider (more precisely, its ratio to the Z-mass) utilizes the distributions of three variables in events where the W decays into an electron or a muon: the charged-lepton transverse momentum, the missing transverse energy and the transverse mass of the lepton pair. We study the putative advantages of the additional measurement of a fourth variable: an improved phase-space singularity mass. This variable is statistically optimal, and simultaneously exploits the longitudinal- and transverse-momentum distributions of the charged lepton. Though the process we discuss is one of the simplest realistic ones involving just one unobservable particle, it is fairly non-trivial and constitutes a good "training" example for the scrutiny of phenomena involving invisible objects. Our graphical analysis of the phase space is akin to that of a Dalitz plot, extended to such processes., Comment: 11 pages. 9 figures. Version to be published in JHEP

The energy spectrum, composition and arrival directions of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with energy above the cosmic ray ankle, measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory, are inconsistent if their origin is assumed to be extragalactic. Their observed properties, however, are those expected from UHECRs accelerated by the highly relativistic jets emitted in Galactic gamma ray bursts, most of which are beamed away from Earth. If this alternative interpretation is correct, the observed break in the energy spectrum of UHECRs around 50 EeV is not the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff but the energy threshold for free escape of ultrahigh energy iron cosmic rays from the Galaxy and above their respective free-escape threshold-energies, UHECR nuclei should point back to their Galactic sources or their remnants rather than to active galactic nuclei (AGN) within the GZK horizon., Comment: Invited talk presentet by A. Dar at the Rencontre de La Thuile, 2011. To be published in Nuovo Cimento

Recent results on muonic hydrogen [1] and the ones compiled by CODATA on ordinary hydrogen and $ep$-scattering [2] are $5\sigma$ away from each other. Two reasons justify a further look at this subject: 1) One of the approximations used in [1] is not valid for muonic hydrogen. This amounts to a shift of the proton's radius by $\sim 3$ of the standard deviations of [1], in the "right" direction of data-reconciliation. In field-theory terms, the error is a mismatch of renormalization scales. Once corrected, the proton radius "runs", much as the QCD coupling "constant" does. 2) The result of [1] requires a choice of the "third Zemach moment". Its published independent determination is based on an analysis with a $p$-value --the probability of obtaining data with equal or lesser agreement with the adopted (fit form-factor) hypothesis-- of $3.92\times 10^{-12}$. In this sense, this quantity is not empirically known. Its value would regulate the level of "tension" between muonic- and ordinary-hydrogen results, currently {\it at most} $\sim 4\sigma$. There is no tension between the results of [1] and the proton radius determined with help of the analyticity of its form factors., Comment: Extended for publication in Physics Letters

Cloet and Miller, in arXiv:1008.4345, state that "existing data rule out a value of the third Zemach moment large enough to explain the current puzzle with the proton charge radius determined from the Lamb shift in muonic Hydrogen. This is in contrast with the recent claim of De R\'ujula [arXiv:1008.3861]". To be more precise: it is not. It is, however, contrary to what they claim that I claim. Cloet and Miller have simply misinterpreted my claims., Comment: 2 pages, no figures

Pohl et al. have reported a very precise measurement of the Lamb-shift in muonic Hydrogen, from which they infer the radius characterizing the proton's charge distribution. The result is 5 standard deviations away from the one of the CODATA compilation of physical constants. This has been interpreted as possibly requiring a 4.9 standard-deviation modification of the Rydberg constant, to a new value that would be precise to 3.3 parts in $10^{13}$, as well as putative evidence for physics beyond the standard model. I demonstrate that these options are unsubstantiated., Comment: Modified following comments in arXiv:1008.4345v1. 4 pages, 2 figures

Consider the day when an invariant mass peak, roughly compatible with "the Higgs", begins to emerge, say at the LHC, ... and may you see that day. There will be a difference between discovery and scrutiny. The latter would involve an effort to ascertain what it is, or is not, that has been found. It turns out that the two concepts are linked: Scrutiny will naturally result in deeper knowledge - is this what you were all looking for? - but may also speed up discovery., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of the XXIV Rencontres de Physique de La Vall\'ee d'Aoste, La Thuile, Italy, 2010

The discovery of a Higgs particle is possible in a variety of search channels at the LHC. However the true identity of any putative Higgs boson will at first remain ambiguous, until one has experimentally excluded other possible assignments of quantum numbers and couplings. We quantify to what degree one can discriminate a Standard Model Higgs boson from "look-alikes" at, or close to, the moment of discovery at the LHC. We focus on the fully-reconstructible "golden" decay mode to a pair of Z bosons and a four-lepton final state, simulating sPlot-weighted samples of signal and background events. Considering both on-shell and off-shell Z's, we show how to utilize the full decay information from the events, including the distributions and correlations of the five relevant angular variables. We demonstrate how the finite phase space acceptance of any LHC detector sculpts the decay distributions, a feature neglected in previous studies. We use likelihood ratios to discriminate a Standard Model Higgs from look-alikes with other spins or nonstandard parity, CP, or form factors. For a benchmark resonance mass of 200 GeV/c^2, we achieve a median expected discrimination significance of 3 sigma with as few as 19 events, and even better discrimination for the off-shell decays of a 145 GeV/c^2 resonance., Comment: 39 pages, 55 figures, typos fixed, figures added, and minor clarifications

Two radiation mechanisms, inverse Compton scattering (ICS) and synchrotron radiation (SR), suffice within the cannonball (CB) model of long gamma ray bursts (LGRBs) and X-ray flashes (XRFs) to provide a very simple and accurate description of their observed prompt emission and afterglows. Simple as they are, the two mechanisms and the burst environment generate the rich structure of the light curves at all frequencies and times. This is demonstrated for 33 selected Swift LGRBs and XRFs, which are well sampled from early until late time and faithfully represent the entire diversity of the broad-band light curves of Swift LGRBs and XRFs. Their prompt gamma-ray and X-ray emission is dominated by ICS of `glory' light. During their fast decline phase, ICS is taken over by SR, which dominates their broad-band afterglow. The pulse shape and spectral evolution of the gamma-ray peaks and the early-time X-ray flares, and even the delayed optical `humps' in XRFs, are correctly predicted. The `canonical' and non-canonical X-ray light curves and the chromatic behaviour of the broad-band afterglows are well reproduced. In particular, in canonical X-ray light curves, the initial fast decline and rapid softening of the prompt emission, the transition to the plateau phase, the subsequent gradual steepening of the plateau to an asymptotic power-law decay, and the transition from chromatic to achromatic behaviour of the light curves agrees well with those predicted by the CB model. The Swift early-time data on XRF 060218 are inconsistent with a black-body emission from a shock break-out through a stellar envelope. Instead, they are well described by ICS of glory light by a jet breaking out from SN2006aj., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 63 pages, 10 (multiple) figures

We show that the properties of gamma ray burst 080319B and its afterglow are well reproduced by the cannonball model of long gamma ray bursts (GRBs). It was an ordinary GRB, produced by a jet of highly relativistic plasmoids (CBs), ejected in a core-collapse supernova (SN) and viewed, as some others before, particularly close to the CB-emission axis. It still remains to be seen whether GRB 080319B was associated with an SN akin to SN1998bw, the SN type ordinarily associated with GRBs, or with a much more luminous SN., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Forty years after their discovery, and in spite of a very large body of observations, the operation of the 'engine' responsible for long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and X-ray flashes --as well as the mechanisms generating their radiation-- are still the subject of debate and study. In this respect a recent event, XRF 060218, associated with SN 2006aj, is particularly significant. It has been argued that, for the first time, the break-out of the shock involved in the supernova explosion has been observed, thanks to the detection of a thermal component in the event's radiation; that this XRF was not a GRB seen 'off-axis', but a member of a new class of energetically feeble GRBs; and that its 'continued engine activity' may have been driven by a remnant highly-magnetized neutron star, a magnetar. I argue, on grounds based on observations and on limpid verified hypothesis, that there is a common, simpler alternative to these views, with no thermal component, no new feeble GRBs, and no steady engine activity., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

The X-ray afterglows (AGs) of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and X-Ray Flashes (XRFs) have, after the fast decline phase of their prompt emission, a temporal behaviour varying between two extremes. A large fraction of these AGs has a 'canonical' light curve which, after an initial shallow-decay 'plateau' phase, 'breaks smoothly' into a fast power-law decline. Very energetic GRBs, contrariwise, appear not to have a 'break', their AG declines like a power-law from the start of the observations. Breaks and 'missing breaks' are intimately related to the geometry and deceleration of the jets responsible for GRBs. In the frame of the 'cannonball' (CB) model of GRBs and XRFs, we analyze the cited extreme behaviours (canonical and pure power-law) and intermediate cases spanning the observed range of X-ray AG shapes. We show that the entire panoply of X-ray light-curve shapes --measured with Swift and other satellites-- are as anticipated, on very limpid grounds, by the CB model. We test the expected correlations between the AG's shape and the peak- and isotropic energies of the prompt radiation, strengthening a simple conclusion of the analysis of AG shapes: in energetic GRBs the break is not truly 'missing', it is hidden under the tail of the prompt emission, or it occurs too early to be recorded. We also verify that the spectral index of the unabsorbed AGs and the temporal index of their late power-law decline differ by half a unit, as predicted., Comment: To be published in Ap. J

I review the subjects of non-solar cosmic rays (CRs) and long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Of the various interpretations of these phenomena, the one best supported by the data is the following. Accreting compact objects, such as black holes, are seen to emit relativistic puffs of plasma: `cannonballs' (CBs). The inner domain of a rotating star whose core has collapsed resembles such an accreting system. This suggests that core-collapse supernovae (SNe) emit CBs, as SN1987A did. The fate of a CB as it exits a SN and travels in space can be studied as a function of the CB's mass and energy, and of `ambient' properties: the encountered matter- and light- distributions, the composition of the former, and the location of intelligent observers. The latter may conclude that the interactions of CBs with ambient matter and light generate CRs and GRBs, all of whose properties can be described by this `CB model' with few parameters and simple physics. GRB data are still being taken in unscrutinized domains of energy and timing. They agree accurately with the model's predictions. CR data are centenary. Their precision will improve, but new striking predictions are unlikely. Yet, a one-free-parameter description of all CR data works very well. This is a bit as if one discovered QED today and only needed to fit $\alpha$., Comment: Contribution to La Thuile Workshop 2007. Brief chapter (13) added, prompted by recent Auger results on UHECR/AGN correlations

Many gamma ray bursts (GRBs) have been observed with the Burst-Alert and X-Ray telescopes of the Swift satellite. The successive `pulses' of these GRBs end with a fast decline and a fast spectral softening, until they are overtaken by another pulse, or the last pulse's decline is overtaken by a less rapidly-varying `afterglow'. The fast decline-phase has been attributed, in the currently-explored standard fireball model of GRBs, to `high-latitude' synchrotron emission from a collision of two conical shells. This high latitude emission does not explain the observed spectral softening. In contrast, the temporal behaviour and the spectral evolution during the fast-decline phase agree with the predictions of the cannonball model of GRBs., Comment: Four added figures comparing the evolution of the inferred effective photon spectral index during the fast decline phase of the prompt emission in 14 selected Swift GRBS and the cannonball (CB) model prediction

Recent data gathered and triggered by the SWIFT satellite have greatly improved our knowledge of long-duration gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and X-ray flashes (XRFs). This is particularly the case for the X-ray data at all times, and for UV and optical data at very early times. I show that the optical and X-ray observations are in excellent agreement with the predictions of the "cannonball" model of GRBs and XRFs. Elementary physics and just two mechanisms underlie these predictions: inverse Compton scattering and synchrotron radiation, generally dominant at early and late times, respectively. I put this result in its proper context and dedicate the paper to those who planed, built and operate SWIFT, a true flying jewel., Comment: A talk at the 2007 Frascati Workshop, Vulcano, Italy. 12 pages total, 17 figures

Recent data gathered and triggered by the SWIFT satellite have greatly improved our knowledge of long-duration gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and X-ray flashes (XRFs). This is particularly the case for the X-ray data at all times. We show that the entire X-ray observations are in excellent agreement with the predictions of the `cannonball' model of GRBs and XRFs, which are based on simple physics and were published long before the launch of SWIFT. Two mechanisms underlie these predictions: inverse Compton scattering and synchrotron radiation, generally dominant at early and late times, respectively. The former mechanism provides a unified description of the gamma-ray peaks, X-ray flares and even the optical `humps' seen in some favourable cases; i.e. their very different durations, fluxes and peak-times are related precisely as predicted. The observed smooth or bumpy fast decay of the X-ray light curve is correctly described case-by-case, in minute detail. The `canonical' X-ray plateau, as well as the subsequent gradual steepening of the afterglow to an asymptotic power-law decay, are as foretold. So are the chromatic and achromatic properties of the light-curves., Comment: 45 pages, 8 (multiple) figures

We show that the mean values and distributions of the time ending the shallow decay of the light curve of the X-ray afterglow of long gamma ray bursts (GRBs), the equivalent isotropic energy in the X-ray afterglow up to that time and the equivalent isotropic GRB energy, as well as the correlations between them, are precisely those predicted by the cannonball (CB) model of GRBs. Correlations between prompt and afterglow observables are important in that they test the overall consistency of a GRB model. In the CB model, the prompt and afterglow spectra, the endtime, the complex canonical shape of the X-ray afterglows and the correlations between GRB observables are not surprises, but predictions., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

The mean iron abundance observed in the intergalactic medium (IGM) within galaxy clusters and without galaxy clusters is consistent with the mean amount of iron per unit volume in the Universe which has been produced by standard supernova (SN) explosions with a rate proportional to the cosmic star-formation rate. If most SNe took place inside galaxies, then the IGM could have been enriched with their metals by galactic winds and jets that swept most of the galactic gas with the SNe ejecta into the IGM. A significant fraction of the early SNe, however, could have taken place outside galaxies or within dwarf galaxies, which were later disrupted by tidal interactions, and/or mass loss through fast winds, SN ejecta and jets. Little is known about such intergalactic SNe at high red-shifts. They could have occurred primarily in highly obscured environments, avoiding detection. Supporting evidence for intergalactic SNe is provided by SNe associated with gamma ray bursts (GRBs) without a host galaxy and from the ratio of well localized GRBs with and without a host galaxy. A direct test of whether a significant contribution to the iron abundance in the IGM came from intergalactic SNe would require the measurement of their rate per comoving unit volume as function of red-shift. This may be feasible with IR telescopes, such as the Spitzer Space Telescope., Comment: Accepted for publication in ChJAS

The polarization of the prompt $\gamma$-ray emission has been measured in four bright gamma ray bursts (GRBs). It was nearly maximal in all cases, as predicted by the Cannonball (CB) model of GRBs long before the observations. These results are inconsistent with standard models of GRBs wherein the prompt emission is due to synchrotron radiation. A much smaller linear polarization is predicted by the CB model for the prompt emission in X-ray flashes (XRFs) and in extremely luminous GRBs. These measurements would provide yet another stringent test of the CB model and its unification of GRBs and XRFs., Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of the Vulcano Workshop on Frontiere Objects in Astrophysics, May 21-27, 2006, Vulcano Italy

Several pairs of observable properties of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are known to be correlated. Many such correlations are straightforward predictions of the 'cannonball' model of GRBs. We extend our previous discussions of the subject to a wealth of new data, and to correlations between 'lag-time', 'variability' and 'minimum rise-time', with other observables. Schaefer's recent systematic analysis of the observations of many GRBs of known red-shift gives us a good and updated data-basis for our study., Comment: Added Appendix. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

A.M. Hillas, in a review of the origins of cosmic rays, has recently criticized the "cannonball" (CB) model of cosmic rays and gamma-ray bursts. We respond to this critique and take the occasion to discuss the crucial question of particle acceleration in the CB model and in the generally accepted models. We also summarize our claims concerning the CB model., Comment: 3.3 pages, no figures

It has been argued that the observational limits on a supernova (SN) associated with GRB060614 convincingly exclude a SN akin to SN1998bw as its originator, and provide evidence for a new class of long-duration GRBs. We discuss this issue in the contexts of indirect 'redshift estimators' and of the fireball and cannonball models of GRBs. The latter explains the unusual properties of GRB060614: at its debated but favoured low redshift (0.125) they are predicted, as opposed to exceptional, if the associated core-collapse SN is of a recently discovered, very faint type. We take the occasion to discuss the 'association' between GRBs and SNe., Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures. To be published in ApJ

I discuss a theory of non-solar cosmic rays (CRs) based on a single type of CR source at all energies. All observed properties of CRs are predicted in terms of very simple and completely `standard' physics. The source of CRs is extremely `economical': it has only one parameter to be fitted to the enormous ensemble of all of the data. All other inputs are `priors', that is theoretical or observational items of information independent of the properties of the source of CRs and chosen to lie in their pre-established ranges., Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures. Contribution to the Cosmic Ray International Seminar, Catania, 2006

We show that inverse Compton scattering of cosmic-microwave-background and starlight photons by cosmic-ray electrons in the interstellar and intergalactic space explains well the spectrum and intensity of the diffuse gamma-ray background radiation (GBR), which was measured by EGRET aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) in directions away from the Galactic disk and centre. The Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) will be able to separate the Galactic foreground from the extragalactic gamma-rays, and to provide stringent tests of the theory.

We present a theory of non-solar cosmic rays (CRs) in which the bulk of their observed flux is due to a single type of CR source at all energies. The total luminosity of the Galaxy, the broken power-law spectra with their observed slopes, the position of the `knee(s)' and `ankle', and the CR composition and its variation with energy are all predicted in terms of very simple and completely `standard' physics. The source of CRs is extremely `economical': it has only one parameter to be fitted to the ensemble of all of the mentioned data. All other inputs are `priors', that is, theoretical or observational items of information independent of the properties of the source of CRs, and chosen to lie in their pre-established ranges. The theory is part of a `unified view of high-energy astrophysics' --based on the `Cannonball' model of the relativistic ejecta of accreting black holes and neutron stars. The model has been extremely successful in predicting all the novel properties of Gamma Ray Bursts recently observed with help of the Swift satellite. If correct, this model is only lacking a satisfactory theoretical understanding of the `cannon' that emits the cannonballs in catastrophic processes of accretion., Comment: Updated to discuss recent data, mainly from Auger

The "canonical behaviour" of the early X-ray afterglows of long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) --observed by the X-Ray Telescope of the SWIFT satellite-- is precisely the one predicted by the Cannonball model of GRBs., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL

Magnetic fields of debated origin appear to permeate the Universe on all large scales. There is mounting evidence that supernovae produce not only roughly spherical ejecta and winds, but also highly relativistic jets of ordinary matter. These jets, which travel long distances, slow down by accelerating the matter encountered on their path to cosmic-ray energies. We show that, if the turbulent motions induced by the winds and the cosmic rays generate magnetic fields in rough energy equipartition, the predicted magnetic-field strengths coincide with the ones observed not only in galaxies (5 $\mu$G in the Milky Way) but also in galaxy clusters (6 $\mu$G in Coma). The prediction for the intergalactic (or inter-cluster) field is 50 nG., Comment: 9 pages. No figures

I outline a "Cannon-Ball" model of Cosmic Rays in which their distribution in the Galaxy, their total "luminosity", the broken power-law spectra with their observed slopes, the position of the knee(s) and ankle(s), and the alleged variations of composition with energy are all explained in terms of simple and "standard" physics., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the XIII International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions, Pylos, Greece, 2004

I outline a unified model of high-energy astrophysics, in which the gamma background radiation, cluster "cooling flows", gamma-ray bursts, X-ray flashes and cosmic-ray electrons and nuclei of all energies -share a common origin. The mechanism underlying these phenomena is the emission of relativistic "cannonballs" by ordinary supernovae, analogous to the observed ejection of plasmoids by quasars and microquasars. I concentrate on Cosmic Rays: the longest-lasting conundrum in astrophysics. The distribution of Cosmic Rays in the Galaxy, their total "luminosity", the broken power-law spectra with their observed slopes, the position of the knee(s) and ankle(s), and the alleged variations of composition with energy are all explained in terms of simple and "standard" physics. The model is only lacking a satisfactory theoretical understanding of the "cannon" that emits the cannonballs in catastrophic episodes of accretion onto a compact object., Comment: 22 Pages. 13 Figures. Based on talks at the European Conference on Cosmic Rays (Florence, 2004) and the XIII ISVHECRI (Pylos, 2004). Most of the contents on cosmic rays are not a review