694 research outputs found
Active Galactic Nuclei with Starbursts: Sources for Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays
Ultra high energy cosmic ray events presently show a spectrum, which we
interpret here as galactic cosmic rays due to a starburst in the radio galaxy
Cen A pushed up in energy by the shock of a relativistic jet. The knee feature
and the particles with energy immediately higher in galactic cosmic rays then
turn into the bulk of ultra high energy cosmic rays. This entails that all
ultra high energy cosmic rays are heavy nuclei. This picture is viable if the
majority of the observed ultra high energy events come from the radio galaxy
Cen A, and are scattered by intergalactic magnetic fields across most of the
sky.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, proceedings of "High-Energy Gamma-rays and
Neutrinos from Extra-Galactic Sources", Heidelber
Supernova explosions of massive stars and cosmic rays
Most cosmic ray particles observed derive from the explosions of massive
stars, which commonly produce stellar black holes in their supernova
explosions. When two such black holes find themselves in a tight binary system
they finally merge in a gigantic emission of gravitational waves, events that
have now been detected. After an introduction (section 1) we introduce the
basic concept (section 2): Cosmic rays from exploding massive stars with winds
always show two cosmic ray components at the same time: (i) the weaker polar
cap component only produced by Diffusive Shock Acceleration with a cut-off at
the knee, and (ii) the stronger component with a down-turn to a steeper
power-law spectrum at the knee, and a final cutoff at the ankle. In section 3
we use the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) data to differentiate these two
cosmic ray spectral components. The ensuing secondary spectra can explain
anti-protons, lower energy positrons, and other secondary particles. Triplet
pair production may explain the higher energy positron AMS data. In section 4
we test this paradigm with a theory of injection based on a combined effect of
first and second ionization potential; this reproduces the ratio of Cosmic Ray
source abundances to source material abundances. In section 5 we interpret the
compact radio source 41.9+58 in the starburst galaxy M82 as a recent binary
black hole merger, with an accompanying gamma ray burst. This can also explain
the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) data in the Northern sky. Thus, by
studying the cosmic ray particles, their abundances at knee energies, and their
spectra, we can learn about what drives these stars to produce the observed
cosmic rays.Comment: 151 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Advances in Space
Researc
- …