1 research outputs found
Gamma-Ray Bursts and Magnetars as Possible Sources of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays: Correlation of Cosmic Ray Event Positions with IRAS Galaxies
We use the two-dimensional Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test to study the
correlation between the 60 cosmic ray events above 4x10^19 eV from the AGASA
experiment and the positions of infrared luminous galaxies from the IRAS PSCz
catalog. These galaxies are expected to be hosts to gamma ray bursts (GRB) and
magnetars, both of which are associated with core collapse supernovae and have
been proposed as possible acceleration sites for ultra high energy cosmic rays.
We find consistency between the models and the AGASA events to have been drawn
from the same underlying distribution of positions on the sky with KS
probabilities ~50%. Application of the same test to the 11 highest AGASA events
above 10^20 eV, however, yields a KS probability of < 0.5%, rejecting the
models at >99.5% significance level. Taken at face value, these highest energy
results suggest that the existing cosmic ray events above 10^20 eV do not owe
their origin to long burst GRBs, rapidly rotating magnetars, or any other
events associated with core collapse supernovae. The larger data set expected
from the AUGER experiment will test whether this conclusion is real or is a
statistical fluke that we estimate to be at the 2 sigma level.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Final Version to be published in Phys. Rev.