Energy spectrum of cosmic rays and multiparticle generation of hadrons at ultrahigh energies

None of the presently known local sources of photons whose energy exceeds 1012 eV is incompatible with the universal energy spectrum F(>Eγ) ∼ Eγ−1.36±0.15. The power of extragalactic sources is 106 to 1012 times higher than the power of galactic sources since the respective distances are longer in the former case, while the observed flux intensities are approximately identical in the two cases. A much higher power of extragalactic sources is indicative of an extragalactic cosmic-ray origin and of the existence of a universal (for all energies of protons and cosmic-ray nuclei) process that is responsible for the energy loss in the Metagalaxy and which forms the observed energy spectrum of protons and nuclei (∼E0−2.72). It is shown that there is no break in the energy spectrum of primary protons in the energy range 1015–1016 eV and that the break in the spectrum of extensive air showers with respect to the number of electrons is due to a change in the process of multiparticle hadron generation in the first event of extensive-air-shower production, this being confirmed by a change in the extensive-air-shower absorption length from λa<90 g/cm2 before the break to λa>150 g/cm2 after the break.