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Opis: The flux of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is remarkably uniform across all directions in the sky. The only anisotropy detected with a significance greater than 5σ is a large-scale dipolar modulation in right ascension for energies above 8 EeV. To enhance our sensitivity to potential anisotropies, which may be obscured by significant deflections by magnetic fields, two strategies can be employed: (1) focusing on large-scale anisotropies, such as the dipole and quadrupole moments across various energy intervals, which are anticipated to be more resilient to magnetic deflections; or (2) focusing on the highest energies, where the background from distant sources is more attenuated. The unique aspect of our research is achieving full-sky coverage by combining data for the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array, which would not be possible with a single detector array. This comprehensive coverage enables the application of analysis techniques that would otherwise require specific assumptions with partial sky coverage. Accounting for potential systematic effects in energy reconstruction is crucial to avoid spurious north–south anisotropies; the overlapping sky region observed by both arrays allows us to address this in an entirely data-driven manner. In this contribution, we present the latest results using the largest UHECR dataset collected to date, with events detected until December 2022 at the Pierre Auger Observatory and until May 2024 at the Telescope Array. It is shown that the dipolar modulation is the only anisotropy that is significantly (4.6σ) identified in the angular power spectrum. The hypothesis of correlations with the starburst galaxies is supported at the significance of 4.4σ.
Ključne besede: ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, Pierre Auger Observatory, UHECR arrival directions, UHECR large-scale anisotropies, UHECR medium-scale anisotropies, full-sky coverage, Telescope Array
Objavljeno v RUNG: 05.05.2025; Ogledov: 236; Prenosov: 3
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Opis: The origin of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) is one of the biggest mysteries in modern astrophysics. Since UHECRs are deflected by Galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields, their arrival directions do not point to their sources. Previous analyses conducted on the arrival directions of high-energy events (E ≥ 32 EeV) recorded by the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory have not shown significant anisotropies. The largest excess found in the first 19 years of data - at the 4.0 sigma level - is in the region around Centaurus A, and it is also the driving force of a correlation of UHECR arrival directions with a catalog of Starburst Galaxies, which is at the 3.8 sigma level. Since UHECRs are mostly nuclei, the lightest ones (least charged) are also the least deflected. While the mass of the events can be estimated better using the Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the Surface Detector provides the necessary statistics needed for astrophysical studies. The introduction of novel mass-estimation techniques, such as machine learning models and an algorithm based on air-shower universality, will help identify high-rigidity events in the Surface Detector data of the Pierre Auger Observatory. With this work, we present how event-per-event mass estimators can help enhance the sensitivity in the search for anisotropies in the arrival directions of UHECRs at small and intermediate angular scales using simulations.
Ključne besede: ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), extensive air showers, Pierre Auger Observatory, UHECR propagation, UHECR arrival directions, UHECR mass composition, Centaurus A radio galaxy, starburst galaxies, air-shower universality
Objavljeno v RUNG: 30.04.2025; Ogledov: 307; Prenosov: 5
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Opis: We use a new method to estimate the injected mass composition of ultrahigh cosmic rays (UHECRs) at energies higher than 10 EeV. The method is based on comparison of the energy-dependent distribution of cosmic ray arrival directions as measured by the Telescope Array (TA) experiment with that calculated in a given putative model of UHECR under the assumption that sources trace the large-scale structure (LSS) of the Universe. As we report in the companion Letter, the TA data show large deflections with respect to the LSS which can be explained, assuming small extragalactic magnetic fields (EGMF), by an intermediate composition changing to a heavy one (iron) in the highest energy bin. Here we show that these results are robust to uncertainties in UHECR injection spectra, the energy scale of the experiment and galactic magnetic fields. The assumption of weak EGMF, however, strongly affects this interpretation at all but the highest energies E > 100 EeV, where the remarkable isotropy of the data implies a heavy injected composition even in the case of strong EGMF. This result also holds if UHECR sources are as rare as 2 × 10[sup]−5 Mpc[sup]−3, that is the conservative lower limit for the source number density.
Ključne besede: ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, large-scale structure, extragalactic magnetic fields, UHECR propagation, Telescope Array, UHECR mass composition, UHECR arrival directions
Objavljeno v RUNG: 23.04.2025; Ogledov: 236; Prenosov: 2
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Opis: On 11 September 2021, two small thunderstorms developed over the Telescope Array Surface Detector (TASD) that produced an unprecedented number of six downward terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) within one‐hour timeframe. The TGFs occurred during the initial stage of negative cloud‐to‐ground flashes whose return strokes had increasingly large peak currents up to 223 kA, 147 GeV energy deposit in up to 25 1.2 km‐spaced surface detectors, and intermittent bursts of gamma‐rays with total durations up to 717 s. The analyses are based on observations recorded by the TASD network, complemented by data from a 3D lightning mapping array, broadband VHF interferometer, fast electric field change sensor, high‐speed video camera, and the National Lightning Detection Network. The TGFs of the final two flashes had gamma fluences of and 8, logarithmically bridging the gap between previous TASD and satellite‐based detections. The observations further emphasize the similarity between upward and downward TGF varieties, suggesting a common mechanism for their production.
Ključne besede: Telescope Array Surface Detector, terrestrial gamma ray flashes, 3D lightning mapping array, broadband VHF interferometer, fast electric field change sensor, high‐speed video camera, National Lightning Detection Network, TGF fluence measurement
Objavljeno v RUNG: 23.04.2025; Ogledov: 247; Prenosov: 4
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Opis: The Pierre Auger Observatory, the world’s largest ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic ray (CR) detector, plays a crucial role in multi-messenger astroparticle physics with its high sensitivity to UHE photons and neutrinos. Recent Auger Observatory studies have set stringent limits on the diffuse and point-like fluxes of these particles, enhancing constraints on dark-matter models and UHECR sources. Although no temporal coincidences of neutrinos or photons with LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events have been observed, competitive limits on the energy radiated in these particles have been established, particularly from the GW170817 binary neutron star merger. Additionally, correlations between the arrival directions of UHECRs and high-energy neutrinos have been explored using data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, ANTARES, and the Auger Observatory, providing additional neutrino flux constraints. Efforts to correlate UHE neutron fluxes with gamma-ray sources within our galaxy continue, although no significant excesses have been found. These collaborative and multi-faceted efforts underscore the pivotal role of the Auger Observatory in advancing multi-messenger astrophysics and probing the most extreme environments of the Universe.
Ključne besede: high-energy particle physics, astrophysics, ultra-high energy cosmic rays, neutrinos, gravitional waves
Objavljeno v RUNG: 22.04.2025; Ogledov: 255; Prenosov: 0
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