English

Was the Highest Energy Cosmic Ray a Photon?

Astrophysics 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

The hypothetical photonic origin of the most energetic air shower detected by the Fly's Eye experiment is discussed. The method used for the analysis is based on Monte Carlo simulations including the effect of precascading of ultra-high energy (UHE) photons in the geomagnetic field. The application of this method to data expected from the Pierre Auger Observatory is discussed. The importance of complementing the southern Auger location by a northern site for UHE photon identification is pointed out.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0407341,
  title  = {Was the Highest Energy Cosmic Ray a Photon?},
  author = {P. Homola and M. Risse and D. Gora and D. Heck and H. Klages and J. Pekala and B. Wilczynska and H. Wilczynski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0407341},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

12 pages, 3 figures, presented at the Cracow Epiphany Conference on Astroparticle Physics, January 2004

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