Deducing the Source of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays
Astrophysics
2007-05-23 v2 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
The apparent lack of suitable astrophysical sources for cosmic rays with E > 10^{19.7} eV (UHECRs) is the "GZK Paradox". We argue that whatever mechanism produces them must also account for events down to ~10^{18.7} eV, including their isotropy and spectral smoothness. This rules out galactic sources, distributed sources such as topological defects, and Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). We are lead to identify the powerful radio galaxy Cen A, at 3.4 Mpc, as the probable source of most UHECRs observed at Earth today, and to estimate the extragalactic magnetic field to be ~0.3 microG.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0010370,
title = {Deducing the Source of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays},
author = {Glennys R. Farrar and Tsvi Piran},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0010370},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
revtex, 5 pp; typos corrected and notation clarified