Related papers: Probing UHECR sources - Constraints from cosmic-ra…
One of the models recently proposed to explain the origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays assumes that these particles may be accelerated by the electromotive force around presently inactive quasar remnants. We study predictions for…
The unified models of astrophysical sources to account for ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and high-energy cosmic neutrinos with energies greater than 100 TeV have been discussed. Based on model-independent arguments, we argue that if…
Ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are expected to be accelerated in astrophysical sources and to travel through extragalactic space before hitting the Earth atmosphere. They interact both with the environment in the source and with the…
Here we discuss the latest developments in the debate, where the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray particles come from. In this brief review, we emphasize the predictions that necessarily follow from the various concepts proposed. We discuss both…
Ultra high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are believed to be protons accelerated in magnetized plasma outflows of extra-Galactic sources. The acceleration of protons to ~10^{20} eV requires a source power L>10^{47} erg/s. The absence of steady…
The Pierre Auger Observatory's (PAO) shower profile measurements can be used to constrain the chemical composition of the ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) spectrum. In particular, the PAO's measurements of the average depth of shower…
The clustering of ultrahigh energy (>10^{20} eV) cosmic rays (UHECR) suggests that they might be emitted by compact sources. Statistical analysis (Dubovsky et al., 2000) estimated the source density. We extend their analysis to give also…
We interpret the correlation between local star-forming galaxy positions and ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) directions, recently detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO), in terms of physical parameters: the local density of…
In the last years a general consensus has emerged on the use of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) data as a powerful probe of the validity of special relativity. This applies in particular to the propagation of cosmic rays from their…
The origin of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is a half-century old enigma (Linsley 1963). The mystery has been deepened by an intriguing coincidence: over ten orders of magnitude in energy, the energy generation rates of UHECRs, PeV…
Understanding the acceleration of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays is one of the great challenges of contemporary astrophysics. In this short review, we summarize the general observational constraints on their composition, spectrum and…
We present results of elaborate four-dimensional simulations of the propagation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR), which are based on a realistic astrophysical scenario. The distribution of the arrival directions of the UHECR is…
The origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is one of the enduring mysteries of high-energy astrophysics. To investigate this, we cross-correlate the recently released Fermi Large Area Telescope First Source Catalog (1FGL) with the…
In its Phase I, the Pierre Auger Observatory has led to several observations, driving the field of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) research over the last 20 years. Major achievements obtained so far include the unprecedented precise…
Observations of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECR) do not uniquely determine both the injection spectrum and the evolution model for UHECR sources - primarily because interactions during propagation obscure the early Universe from direct…
We fit the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray (UHECR, $E\gtrsim0.1$ EeV) spectrum and composition data from the Pierre Auger Observatory at energies $E\gtrsim5\cdot10^{18}$ eV, i.e., beyond the ankle using two populations of astrophysical sources.…
The joint analysis of anisotropy signals and chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays offers strong potential for shedding light on the sources of these particles. Following up on an earlier idea, this paper studies the…
Two of the greatest mysteries of modern physics are the origin of the dark matter in the universe and the nature of the highest energy particles in the cosmic ray spectrum. We discuss here possible direct and indirect connections between…
Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) can be a signal from very early (post-inflationary) Universe. At this cosmological epoch Topological Defects (TD) and long-lived suprheavy (SH) particles are expected to be naturally and effectively…
The arguments suggesting an association between the sources of cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are presented. Recent GRB and UHECR observations are shown to strengthen these…