Ultra high energy cosmic rays from cosmological relics

Abstract

Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) can be a signal from very early (post-inflationary) Universe. At this cosmological epoch Topological Defects (TD) and long-lived suprheavy (SH) particles are expected to be naturally and effectively produced. Both of these relics can produce now the particles, such as protons and photons, with energies in a great excess of what is observed in UHECR, $E \sim 10^{10} - 10^{11} GeV$. The Topological Defects as the UHECR sources are critically reviewed and cosmic necklaces and monopolonia are identified as most plausible sources. The relic superheavy particles and monopolonia are shown to be clustering in the halo of our Galaxy and their decays produce UHECR without the GZK cutoff. The observational signature of both models are discussed.Comment: Invited talk at 10th Int. Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions, July 12 - 17, 1998, Gran Sass