40 research outputs found
The clustering of ultra-high energy cosmic rays and their sources
The sky distribution of cosmic rays with energies above the 'GZK cutoff'
holds important clues to their origin. The AGASA data, although consistent with
isotropy, shows evidence for small-angle clustering, and it has been argued
that such clusters are aligned with BL Lacertae objects, implicating these as
sources. It has also been suggested that clusters can arise if the cosmic rays
come from the decays of very massive relic particles in the Galactic halo, due
to the expected clumping of cold dark matter. We examine these claims and show
that both are in fact not justified.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, version in press at Phys. Rev.
Nearby quasar remnants and ultra-high energy cosmic rays
As recently suggested, nearby quasar remnants are plausible sites of
black-hole based compact dynamos that could be capable of accelerating
ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). In such a model, UHECRs would originate
at the nuclei of nearby dead quasars, those in which the putative underlying
supermassive black holes are suitably spun-up. Based on galactic optical
luminosity, morphological type, and redshift, we have compiled a small sample
of nearby objects selected to be highly luminous, bulge-dominated galaxies,
likely quasar remnants. The sky coordinates of these galaxies were then
correlated with the arrival directions of cosmic rays detected at energies EeV. An apparently significant correlation appears in our data. This
correlation appears at closer angular scales than those expected when taking
into account the deflection caused by typically assumed IGM or galactic
magnetic fields over a charged particle trajectory. Possible scenarios
producing this effect are discussed, as is the astrophysics of the quasar
remnant candidates. We suggest that quasar remnants be also taken into account
in the forthcoming detailed search for correlations using data from the Auger
Observatory.Comment: 2 figures, 4 tables, 11 pages. Final version to appear in Physical
Review
Heavy-ion resonance and statistical fission competition in the Mg24+24Mg system at Ec.m.=44.4 MeV
The fully energy-damped cross sections of the Mg24+24Mg reaction at Ec.m.=44.4 MeV have been measured for all of the major fission channels. High-resolution Q-value spectra have been obtained for the large-angle yields in the Mg24+24Mg and Ne20+28Si channels. Calculations based on the transition-state model are found to reproduce the fully damped cross sections in all of the observed mass channels. The pronounced structure that is observed in the excitation-energy spectra for the more symmetric mass channels, even for the strongly damped yields, is shown to be qualitatively reproduced by assuming a spin-weighted population of the fragment states. There is no evidence, however, that the structure of the nascent fission fragments at scission may influence the population of states in the fragments. These results, taken together with earlier measurements of the resonance behavior of this system, suggest the coexistence of fission from the normal, compact compound nucleus with that from the deformed configurations believed to be responsible for the resonance behavior
Anisotropy at the end of the cosmic ray spectrum?
The starburst galaxies M82 and NGC253 have been proposed as the primary
sources of cosmic rays with energies above eV. For energies \agt
10^{20.3} eV the model predicts strong anisotropies. We calculate the
probabilities that the latter can be due to chance occurrence. For the highest
energy cosmic ray events in this energy region, we find that the observed
directionality has less than 1% probability of occurring due to random
fluctuations. Moreover, during the first 5 years of operation at Auger, the
observation of even half the predicted anisotropy has a probability of less
than to occur by chance fluctuation. Thus, this model can be subject
to test at very small cost to the Auger priors budget and, whatever the outcome
of that test, valuable information on the Galactic magnetic field will be
obtained.Comment: Final version to be published in Physical Review
Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Fluxes and Their Constraints
Applying our recently developed propagation code we review extragalactic
neutrino fluxes above 10^{14} eV in various scenarios and how they are
constrained by current data. We specifically identify scenarios in which the
cosmogenic neutrino flux, produced by pion production of ultra high energy
cosmic rays outside their sources, is considerably higher than the
"Waxman-Bahcall bound". This is easy to achieve for sources with hard injection
spectra and luminosities that were higher in the past. Such fluxes would
significantly increase the chances to detect ultra-high energy neutrinos with
experiments currently under construction or in the proposal stage.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, version published in Phys.Rev.
New hadrons as ultra-high energy cosmic rays
Ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) protons produced by uniformly
distributed astrophysical sources contradict the energy spectrum measured by
both the AGASA and HiRes experiments, assuming the small scale clustering of
UHECR observed by AGASA is caused by point-like sources. In that case, the
small number of sources leads to a sharp exponential cutoff at the energy
E<10^{20} eV in the UHECR spectrum. New hadrons with mass 1.5-3 GeV can solve
this cutoff problem. For the first time we discuss the production of such
hadrons in proton collisions with infrared/optical photons in astrophysical
sources. This production mechanism, in contrast to proton-proton collisions,
requires the acceleration of protons only to energies E<10^{21} eV. The diffuse
gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes in this model obey all existing experimental
limits. We predict large UHE neutrino fluxes well above the sensitivity of the
next generation of high-energy neutrino experiments. As an example we study
hadrons containing a light bottom squark. These models can be tested by
accelerator experiments, UHECR observatories and neutrino telescopes.Comment: 17 pages, revtex style; v2: shortened, as to appear in PR
Measurement of the - and -Dependence of the Asymmetry on the Nucleon
We report results for the virtual photon asymmetry on the nucleon from
new Jefferson Lab measurements. The experiment, which used the CEBAF Large
Acceptance Spectrometer and longitudinally polarized proton (NH) and
deuteron (ND) targets, collected data with a longitudinally
polarized electron beam at energies between 1.6 GeV and 5.7 GeV. In the present
paper, we concentrate on our results for and the related ratio
in the resonance and the deep inelastic regions for our lowest
and highest beam energies, covering a range in momentum transfer from
0.05 to 5.0 GeV and in final-state invariant mass up to about 3 GeV.
Our data show detailed structure in the resonance region, which leads to a
strong --dependence of for below 2 GeV. At higher , a
smooth approach to the scaling limit, established by earlier experiments, can
be seen, but is not strictly --independent. We add
significantly to the world data set at high , up to . Our data
exceed the SU(6)-symmetric quark model expectation for both the proton and the
deuteron while being consistent with a negative -quark polarization up to
our highest . This data setshould improve next-to-leading order (NLO) pQCD
fits of the parton polarization distributions.Comment: 7 pages LaTeX, 5 figure