On the ultra high energy cosmic rays and the origin of the cosmic microwave background radiation

Some inconsistencies to the assumption of a cosmological origin of the cosmic microwave background CMB, such as the absence of gravitational lensing in the WMAP data, open the doors to some speculations such as a local origin to the CMB. We argue here that this assumption agrees with the absence of the GZK cutoff (at least according to AGASA data) in the energy spectrum of the cosmic ray due to the cosmic interaction with the CMB at $6\times 10^{19} eV$ or above. Within 50 Mpc from Earth, the matter and light distributions are close to an anisotropic distribution, where the local cluster and local super-clusters of galaxies can be identified. In contrast, the ultra high energy comic rays data is consistent to an almost isotropic distribution, and there is no correlation between their arrival direction and astronomical sources within our local cluster. This means that the events above the GZK cutoff come from distances above 50 Mpc, without an apparent energy loss. This scenario is plausible under the assumption of the CMB concentrated only within 3-4 Mpc from Earth. In other words, the CMB has a local origin linked only to the local super-cluster of galaxies. In addition, the galactic and extragalactic energy spectra index within the energy equipartition theorem strongly constrains the dark matter and dark energy hypothesis, essential in the Big Bang cosmology.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

The Hubble diagram of high redshift objects, QSOs and AGNs

According to the Hubble law, high redshift objects such as Quasar (QSOs), X-ray Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) together with the Gamma Ray Burst (GRBs) are the fastest and farthest objects. These characteristics provides strong motivations for they to be used to constrain the cosmological parameters, without the limitations found in the Ia supernovae study and which is restricted to redshift of up to 1.7. However, the variability and behavior in the QSOs and AGNs spectra tell us that they have very complex structures and the standard candle framework can not be applied. So far the available data of QSOs and AGNs have shown some anomalies observed in their brightness and metallicities, difficult to understand, under an orthodox point of view. Here, we show that their Hubble diagram flattens for $z\geq 3$. The result need further confirmation, because the statistics of high redshift extragalactic objects is still poor. Details and some implications of these results are reported in this work.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Is there a galactic component for the ultra high energy cosmic rays?

Under the hypothesis that Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) might be responsible for the origin of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR), we propose a two component (galactic and extra-galactic) model for the UHECR origin. The model is based on two facts. The first is the anisotropies found in the angular distribution of GRBs from BATSE catalog. Second is that, of all the located long-GRBs, only approximately 15 percent of them have their spectroscopic redshift determined, and some 38 percent of them have a X-ray, optical, or radio afterglow. So far, in short-GRBs, no afterglow and no red shift have been detected, suggesting that these GRB sources are inside or close to our Galaxy. This two component model for the UHECR is further supported by the experimental evidences of an UHECR excess around $10^{18}$ eV from the direction of the galactic central region. The model offers in a natural way an explanation for the presence of cosmic rays with energies beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min (GZK) cutoff.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Interplanetary coronal mass ejection effect on the muon flux at sea level

We present the results of 720 hours of observations of transient solar events at ground level, during the summer season 2005 (Souther Hemisphere). Data were taken with the TUPI muon telescope, working at a high counting rate (up to 100 KHz) and always pointing on the IMF lines (45 degrees of pitch angle). An anti-correlation among the arrival of keV protons (observed by EPAM detector aboard the ACE spacecraft) and sudden depressions in the muon flux at sea level have been observed. The phenomena is discussed in the context that they can be considered as mini-Forbush, caused by a shielding effect of the passage of a disturbance (shock and plasma) and may be a signature of interplanetary manifestations of coronal mass ejections.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Search for muon enhancement at sea level from transient solar activity

This paper presents first results of an ongoing study of a possible association between muon enhancements at ground observed by the TUPI telescope and transient events such as the Sun's X-ray activity. The analysis of the observed phenomenon by using the GOES satellite archive data seems to indicate that on most cases the Ground Level Enhancements (GLEs) could potentially be associated with solar flares. We show that small scale solar flares, those with prompt X-ray emission classified as C class (power above $10^{-6}Watts m^{-2}$ at 1 AU) may give rise to GLEs, probably associated with solar protons and ions arriving to the Earth as a coherent particle pulse. The TUPI telescope's high performance with these energetic solar particles arises mainly from: (1) its high counting rate (up to $\sim 100$ KHz). This value in most cases is around 100 times higher than other detectors at ground and (2) due to its tracking system. The telescope is always looking near the direction of the IMF lines. The GLE's delay in relation of the X-ray prompt emission suggest that shock driven by corona mass ejection (CME) is an essential requirement for the particle acceleration efficiency.Comment: 18 pages, 10 Postscript figures. Accepted to publication in Physical Review D (April-2005

Ground level observations of relativistic solar particles on Oct 29th, 2015: Is it a new GLE on the current solar cycle?

On Oct. 29th, 2015, the Earth crossed through a fold in the heliospheric current sheet. This is called a "solar sector boundary crossing". Under this circumstances, a large coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred at 2:24 UT, behind the west limb on the sun. Therefore, the boundary crossing occurred when in the blast's nearby environment was filled with energetic particles accelerated by the CME shock waves, spacecraft measurements (ACE and GOES) have shown that in such a case, protons with energies at least up to 30 MeV were stored within the range of the sector boundary. Thus, a fraction of the solar energetic particles (SEP) from CME, reached Earth around 03:00 UT in the aftermath of the solar blast, reaching the condition of an S1 (minor) radiation storm level. The effect at ground level was a small increase in the counting rate in some ground based detectors, such as the South Pole Neutron Monitor (NM) and a sharp peak observed in the counting rate in the New-Tupi detector in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Thule NM. The event is being classified as a new GLE (Ground Level Enhancement) in the current solar cycle, as the GLE 73. However, in all cases, the counting rate increase is smaller or near than 2\%. The Earth crossed through a fold in the heliospheric current sheet also caused a geomagnetic disturbance, below the minor geomagnetic storm threshold, observed in the ACE spacecraft and a small decrease in the counting rates of some ground level detectors, such as the New-Tupi detector and Thuly NM. Details of these observations are reported.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Gamma ray burst triggers at daytime and night-time interface

There is a difference between the solar ionization concentration in the ionosphere in the daytime and at night-time. At night the E-region ion concentration peak is dramatically reduced due to chemical losses and the rapid change in the vertical polarization electric field at the time around sunset, which is due to the accelerating neutral wind dynamo and which produces a corresponding change in the zonal electric field through curl-free requirements. The result is the formation of a layer of high conductivity, at the daytime-night-time interface. This phenomenon in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) area, provokes an increase in the precipitation of charge particles which is well known and is commonly termed "sunset enhancement". In the following we show five gamma ray burst (GRB) triggers observed by spacecraft GRB detectors in temporal coincidence with muon enhancement observed at ground level by the Tupi telescopes with two different orientations at $\sim 21$ UT (local sunset), and located inside the SAA region. Of these GRB triggers analyzed here, one from Swift, and two from Fermi are probably noise triggers, produced by omni-directional particle precipitation, during the sunset enhancements.Comment: 7 pages, 12 figure

Signals at ground level of relativistic solar particles associated to the "All Saints" filament eruption on 2014

Far away from any sunspot, a bright flare erupted on November 1st, 2014, with onset at 4:44 UT and a duration of around three hours, causing a C2.7-class flare. The blast was associated with the sudden disappearance of a large dark solar filament. The rest of the filament flew out into space, forming the core of a massive CME. Despite the location of the explosion over the sun's southeastern region (near the eastern edge of the sun) not be geoeffective, a radiation storm, that is, solar energetic particles (SEP) started to reach the Earth around 14:00 UT, reaching the condition of an S1 (minor) radiation storm level on Nov. 2th. In coincidence with onset of the S1 radiation storm (SEP above 5 MeV), the Tupi telescopes located at $22^090'$S; $43^020'$W, within the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) detected a muon enhancement caused by relativistic protons from this solar blast. In addition an increase in the particle intensity was found also at South Pole neutron monitor. This means that there was a transverse propagation to the interplanetary magnetic field of energetic solar particles. However, we show that perpendicular diffusion alone cannot explain these observations, it is necessary a combination with further processes as a very high speed, at least of a fraction the CME shocks, close to the ecliptic plane.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure

Possible evidence of a ground level enhancement of muons in association with a SWIFT Trigger

Starting from April 2007, a search for solar daily variation of the muon intensity ($E_\mu >0.2$ GeV) at sea level and using two directional muon telescopes is in progress. In this survey, several ground level enhancements (GLEs) on the muon counting rate background have been found. Here, we highlight one of them, observed in the vertical telescope on 07 August 2007 for the following reasons: The GLE consists of a single narrow peak, with a statistical significance of 4.4$\sigma$. The GLE is in temporal coincidence with a SWIFT trigger $N^0287222$, at 21:16:05 UT according to the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on board of the SWIFT spacecraft. However, the Swift StarTracker had lost stellar lock minutes before that and the resulting improper s/c attitude information caused BAT to "trigger" on a known source. Even so, the SWIFT trigger coordinates are inside the effective field of view of the vertical Tupi muon telescope. The temporal and directional coincidences between this GLE and the SWIFT satellite unknown event strongly suggest that they may be physically associated. Details and implications of this possible association are reported in this work.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Inter-galactic gravitational field effect on the propagation of light

Recent observations of the luminosity-redshift in Type Ia supernovae suggest an accelerated inflation of the Universe (open Universe) as well as the observed matter density showed to be less than the critical one, suggesting that a large fraction of the energy density of the Universe is in the form of dark energy with negative pressure (to supply repulsive forces). We present here an alternative mechanism on the basis of the photon energy loss in the inter-galactic gravitational field, and it is close to the Shapiro effect. It is argue that the redshift observed in distant galaxies is a cumulativeprocess, a dominant redshift due to the Doppler effect plus a redshift due to photon energy loss in the intergalactic gravitational field. We show that the last mechanism when interpreted as Doppler effect, supplies a non lineal relationship among the speed of recession of the galaxies and their distances. The effect is very tiny, even so, it increases with the distance and can be the key to explain the anomalous redshift observed in distant supernovae without the accelerated inflation hypothesisComment: 6 pages, 2 figure