In the light of the recently predicted isotopic composition of the kpc-scale jet in Centaurus A, we re-investigate whether this source could be responsible for some of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory. We find that a nearby source like Centaurus A is well motivated by the composition and spectral shape, and that such sources should start to dominate the flux above ~ 4 EeV. The best-fitting isotopes from our modelling, with the maximum 56Fe energy fixed at 250 EeV, are of intermediate mass, 12C to 16O, while the best-fitting particle index is 2.3.
@article{arxiv.1706.08229,
title = {UHECR propagation from Centaurus A},
author = {Sarka Wykes and Andrew M. Taylor and Justin D. Bray and Martin J. Hardcastle and Michael Hillas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.08229},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
8 pages, 7 colour figures, 1 table. Submitted to NPPP