30 research outputs found
Prospects for GMRT to Observe Radio Waves from UHE Particles Interacting with the Moon
Ultra high energy (UHE) particles of cosmic origin impact the lunar regolith
and produce radio signals through Askaryan effect, signals that can be detected
by Earth based radio telescopes. We calculate the expected sensitivity for
observation of such events at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), both
for UHE cosmic rays (CR) and UHE neutrino interactions. We find that for 30
days of observation time a significant number of detectable events is expected
above eV for UHECR or neutrino fluxes close to the current limits.
Null detection over a period of 30 days will lower the experimental bounds on
UHE particle fluxes by magnitudes competitive to both present and future
experiments at the very highest energies.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure
Global anisotropy of arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: capabilities of space-based detectors
Planned space-based ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray detectors (TUS, JEM-EUSO and
S-EUSO) are best suited for searches of global anisotropies in the distribution
of arrival directions of cosmic-ray particles because they will be able to
observe the full sky with a single instrument. We calculate quantitatively the
strength of anisotropies associated with two models of the origin of the
highest-energy particles: the extragalactic model (sources follow the
distribution of galaxies in the Universe) and the superheavy dark-matter model
(sources follow the distribution of dark matter in the Galactic halo). Based on
the expected exposure of the experiments, we estimate the optimal strategy for
efficient search of these effects.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, iopart style. v.2: discussion of the effect of
the cosmic magnetic fields added; other minor changes. Simulated UHECR
skymaps available at http://livni.inr.ac.ru/UHECRskymaps
Composition of UHECR and the Pierre Auger Observatory Spectrum
We fit the recently published Pierre Auger ultra-high energy cosmic ray
spectrum assuming that either nucleons or nuclei are emitted at the sources. We
consider the simplified cases of pure proton, or pure oxygen, or pure iron
injection. We perform an exhaustive scan in the source evolution factor, the
spectral index, the maximum energy of the source spectrum Z E_{max}, and the
minimum distance to the sources. We show that the Pierre Auger spectrum agrees
with any of the source compositions we assumed. For iron, in particular, there
are two distinct solutions with high and low E_{max} (e.g. 6.4 10^{20} eV and 2
10^{19} eV) respectively which could be distinguished by either a large
fraction or the near absence of proton primaries at the highest energies. We
raise the possibility that an iron dominated injected flux may be in line with
the latest composition measurement from the Pierre Auger Observatory where a
hint of heavy element dominance is seen.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures (33 panels)- Uses iopart.cls and iopart12.clo- In
version 2: addition of a few sentences and two reference
GZK photon constraints on Planck scale Lorentz violation in QED
We show how the argument exploited by Galaverni & Sigl in Phys. Rev. Lett.,
100, 021102 (2008) (see also arXiv:0708.1737) to constrain Lorentz invariance
violation (LV) using Ultra-High-Energy photon non observation by the AUGER
experiment, can be extended to QED with Planck-suppressed LV (at order
and ). While the original constraints given by Galaverni & Sigl
happen to be weakened, we show that, when used together with other EFT
reactions and the expected detection of photons at eV by AUGER,
this method has the potentiality not only to basically rule out order
corrections but also to strongly constrain, for the first time, the CPT-even
LV QED.Comment: v2: Improved Introduction. Accepted by JCA
Operations of and Future Plans for the Pierre Auger Observatory
Technical reports on operations and features of the Pierre Auger Observatory,
including ongoing and planned enhancements and the status of the future
northern hemisphere portion of the Observatory. Contributions to the 31st
International Cosmic Ray Conference, Lodz, Poland, July 2009.Comment: Contributions to the 31st ICRC, Lodz, Poland, July 200
Astrophysical Origins of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays
In the first part of this review we discuss the basic observational features
at the end of the cosmic ray energy spectrum. We also present there the main
characteristics of each of the experiments involved in the detection of these
particles. We then briefly discuss the status of the chemical composition and
the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays. After that, we examine
the energy losses during propagation, introducing the Greisen-Zaptsepin-Kuzmin
(GZK) cutoff, and discuss the level of confidence with which each experiment
have detected particles beyond the GZK energy limit. In the second part of the
review, we discuss astrophysical environments able to accelerate particles up
to such high energies, including active galactic nuclei, large scale galactic
wind termination shocks, relativistic jets and hot-spots of Fanaroff-Riley
radiogalaxies, pulsars, magnetars, quasar remnants, starbursts, colliding
galaxies, and gamma ray burst fireballs. In the third part of the review we
provide a brief summary of scenarios which try to explain the super-GZK events
with the help of new physics beyond the standard model. In the last section, we
give an overview on neutrino telescopes and existing limits on the energy
spectrum and discuss some of the prospects for a new (multi-particle)
astronomy. Finally, we outline how extraterrestrial neutrino fluxes can be used
to probe new physics beyond the electroweak scale.Comment: Higher resolution version of Fig. 7 is available at
http://www.angelfire.com/id/dtorres/down3.html. Solicited review article
prepared for Reports on Progress in Physics, final versio
An upper limit to the photon fraction in cosmic rays above 10^19 eV from the Pierre Auger Observatory
An upper limit of 16% (at 95% c.l.) is derived for the photon fraction in cosmic rays with energies above 10^19 eV, based on observations of the depth of shower maximum performed with the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. This is the first such limit on photons obtained by observing the fluorescence light profile of air showers. This upper limit confirms and improves on previous results from the Haverah Park and AGASA surface arrays. Additional data recorded with the Auger surface detectors for a subset of the event sample, support the conclusion that a photon origin of the observed events is not favoured
Studies of Cosmic Ray Composition and Air Shower Structure with the Pierre Auger Observatory
Studies of the composition of the highest energy cosmic rays with the Pierre
Auger Observatory, including examination of hadronic physics effects on the
structure of extensive air showers. Submissions to the 31st ICRC, Lodz, Poland
(July 2009).Comment: Submissions to the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, Lodz,
Poland (July 2009
30th International Cosmic Ray Conference Constraints on top-down models for the origin of UHECRs from the Pierre Auger Observatory data
Abstract: Taking into account the Pierre Auger Observatory limits on the photon fraction among the highest energy cosmic rays, we show that the models based on the decay of superheavy dark matter in the halo of our Galaxy are essentially excluded from being the sources of UHECRs unless their contribution becomes significant only above ⌠100 EeV. Some top-down models based on topological defects are however compatible with the current data and may be best constrained in the future by the high-energy neutrino flux limit