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Abstract: The flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays above 3×10[sup]17 eV has been measured with unprecedented precision at the Pierre Auger Observatory. The flux of the cosmic rays is determined by four different measurements. The surface detector array provides three data sets, two formed by dividing the data into two zenith angle ranges, and one obtained from a nested, denser detector array. The fourth measurement is obtained with the fluorescence detector. By combining all four data sets, the all-sky flux of cosmic rays is determined. The spectral features are discussed in detail and systematic uncertainties are addressed.
Keywords: ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), Pierre Auger Observatory, UHECR energy spectrum
Published in RUNG: 11.10.2023; Views: 297; Downloads: 6
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Abstract: The detection of cosmic gamma rays, high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays (CRs) signal the existence of environments in the Universe that allow particle acceleration to extremely high energies. These observable signatures from putative CR sources are the result of in-source acceleration of particles, their energy and time-dependent transport including interactions in an evolving environment and their escape from source, in addition to source-to-Earth propagation. Low-luminosity AGN jets constitute the most abundant persistent jet source population in the local Universe. The dominant subset of these, Fanaroff-Riley 0 (FR0) galaxies, have recently been proposed as sources contributing to the ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) flux observed on Earth. This presentation assesses the survival, workings and multi-messenger signatures of UHECRs in low-luminosity jet environments, with focus on FR0 galaxies. For this purpose we use our recently developed, fully time-dependent CR particle and photon propagation framework which takes into account all relevant secondary production and energy loss processes, allows for an evolving source environment and efficient treatment of transport non-linearities due to the produced particles/photons being fed back into the simulation chain. Finally, we propagate UHE cosmic-ray nuclei and secondary cosmogenic photons and neutrinos from FR0 galaxies to Earth for several extragalactic magnetic field scenarios using the CRPropa3 framework, and confront the resulting energy spectra and composition on Earth with the current observational situation.
Keywords: multi-messenger astrophysics, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), very-high-energy gamma-rays, very-high-energy neutrinos, active galactic nuclei (AGN), low-luminosity jetted AGN, Fanaroff-Riley 0 (FR0) galaxies, UHECR acceleration, UHECR propagation, cosmic magnetic fields
Published in RUNG: 13.09.2023; Views: 315; Downloads: 4
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Abstract: In this work we present the interpretation of the energy spectrum and mass composition data as measured by the Pierre Auger Collaboration above 6 × 10[sup]17 eV. We use an astrophysical model with two extragalactic source populations to model the hardening of the cosmic-ray flux at around 5 × 10[sup]18 eV (the so-called "ankle" feature) as a transition between these two components. We find our data to be well reproduced if sources above the ankle emit a mixed composition with a hard spectrum and a low rigidity cutoff. The component below the ankle is required to have a very soft spectrum and a mix of protons and intermediate-mass nuclei. The origin of this intermediate-mass component is not well constrained and it could originate from either Galactic or extragalactic sources. To the aim of evaluating our capability to constrain astrophysical models, we discuss the impact on the fit results of the main experimental systematic uncertainties and of the assumptions about quantities affecting the air shower development as well as the propagation and redshift distribution of injected ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs).
Keywords: ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), Pierre Auger Observatory, extensive air showers, UHECR propagation, UHECR energy spectrum, UHECR mass composition
Published in RUNG: 18.08.2023; Views: 372; Downloads: 4
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Abstract: Recently, it has been shown that relatively low luminosity Fanaroff-Riley type 0 (FR-0) radio galaxies are a good candidate source class for a predominant fraction of cosmic rays (CR) accelerated to ultra-high energies (UHE, E>10[sup]18 eV). FR-0s can potentially provide a significant fraction of the UHECR energy density as they are much more numerous in the local universe than more energetic radio galaxies such as FR-1s or FR-2s (up to a factor of ∼5 with z≤0.05 compared to FR-1s). In the present work, UHECR mass composition and energy spectra at the FR-0 sources are estimated by fitting simulation results to the published Pierre Auger Observatory data. This fitting is done using a simulated isotropic sky distribution extrapolated from the measured FR-0 galaxy properties and propagating CRs in plausible extragalactic magnetic field configurations using the CRPropa3 framework. In addition, we present estimates of the fluxes of secondary photons and neutrinos created in UHECR interactions with cosmic photon backgrounds during CR propagation. With this approach, we aim to investigate the properties of the sources with the help of observational multi-messenger data.
Keywords: jetted active galaxies, FR-0 radiogalaxies, ultra-high energy cosmic rays, extragalactic magnetic fields, UHECR propagation, UHECR interactions, cosmogenic photons, cosmogenic neutrinos
Published in RUNG: 16.08.2021; Views: 1586; Downloads: 1
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Keywords: ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), high-energy neutrinos, arrival directions, correlation search, IceCube neutrino observatory, Pierre Auger Observatory, Telescope Array, ANTARES neutrino observatory
Published in RUNG: 22.12.2020; Views: 2186; Downloads: 79
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