Origin of energetic cosmic rays. I. Galactic diffusion in the energy range 1014-1017eV

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Abstract
A brief survey is given of measurements leading to the determination of the energy spectrum of primary cosmic rays in the energy range 1014-1017 eV with particular reference to the change of exponent which occurs in the region of 3*1015 eV (the spectral 'kink') and an attempt is made to give a quantitative explanation in terms of galactic diffusion. Reasonable astronomical values for various parameters (cloud sizes, magnetic fields, etc) give some measure of success in accounting for the sharpness of the kink in the energy spectrum, the energy at which it occurs and the magnitude of the change of exponent. Problems arise with the predicted anisotropy however and the adopted model breaks down above about 1017 eV.