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Supernova remnants have long been suspected to be the main source of
the cosmic rays.
The main reason is that they have enough power to maintain the energy
density of cosmic rays, and early evidence for acceleration consisted
of radio synchrotron radiation, proving the existence of accelerated
electrons with GeV energies. Over the last decade, however, much more
evidence has accumulated that supernova remnants are active particle
accelerators. This evidence consists of X-ray synchrotron radiation
from shock fronts, TeV emission from supernova remnants, and optical
evidence. In this talk I will review the current status with
introducing both the theoretical background and discussing the
observational evidence with an emphasis on X-ray and optical studies
that I have been involved in myself. Although the progress has been
rapid over the last decade there are still problems accounting for
cosmic ray acceleration due to supernova remnants. I will discuss
these problems as well and discuss possible future tests of various
cosmic ray acceleration scenarios.
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