Abstract: Cosmic rays (CRs) with energies below the 'knee' at about 3 PeV are believed to be of Galactic origin, but it is still not fully understood in which astrophysical objects they are produced. The classical paradigm states that Supernova remnants (SNRs) are the main sources of Galactic CRs mainly on the account of their energy budget that is sufficient to explain the energy density of low-energy CRs. But whether SNRs are responsible for all the Galactic CRs or not remains an open question as many pieces of the puzzle are still missing. To answer this question it is necessary to understand whether SNRs can accelerate particles beyond PeV energies and whether the total yield of CRs from SNRs is compatible with observations in terms of the spectral shaper and elemental composition. In this talk I will critically assess the capabilities of SNRs as CR accelerators by the means of multiwavelength observations and numerical simulations.
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