Related papers: Cosmic rays from remnants of quasars?
It is commonly accepted that high energy cosmic rays up to $10^{19}$ eV can be produced in catastrophic astrophysical processes. However the source of a few observed events with higher energies remains mysterious. We propose that they may…
We shortly discuss several astrophysical scenarios leading to cosmic ray acceleration up to extremely high energies reaching the scale of 10^{20} eV. The processes suggested in the literature include acceleration at relativistic jet…
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…
Cosmic rays are charged relativistic particles that reach the Earth with extremely high energies, providing striking evidence of the existence of effective accelerators in the Universe. Below an energy around $\sim 10^{17}$ eV cosmic rays…
The quasar remnant cores of nearby giant elliptical galaxies NGC 4486 (M87), NGC 1399, NGC 4649 and NGC 4472 are the sites of supermassive (greater than one billion solar masses) black holes. These objects are investigated as to the…
A fundamental question that can be answered in the next decade is: WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE HIGHEST ENERGY COSMIC PARTICLES? The discovery of the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays will reveal the workings of the most energetic…
It is proposed that the highest energy $\sim 10^{20}$eV cosmic ray primaries are protons, decay products of a long-lived progenitor whose high kinetic energy arises from decay of a distant (cosmological) superheavy particle, G. Such a…
Contrary to expectations, several cosmic ray events with energies above $10^{20}$ eV have been observed. The flux of such events is well above the predicted Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff due to the pion production (via the $\Delta$…
A simple model is exhibited in which the remnant density of charged vortons is used to provide candidates for explaining the observed ultra high energy cosmic rays (above $10^{20}$ eV). These vortons would be accelerated in active galaxies…
The origin of observed extremely high energy cosmic rays remains an astrophysical enigma. We show that a single evaporating primordial black hole should produce 8.5*10^14 particles over a 10^20 eV threshold. This emission results from…
The long-held notion that the highest-energy cosmic rays are of distant extragalactic origin is challenged by observations that events above $\sim 10^{20}$ eV do not exhibit the expected high-energy cutoff from photopion production off the…
Cosmic ray particles with energies in excess of 10**(20) eV have been detected. The sources as well as the physical mechanism(s) responsible for endowing cosmic ray particles with such enormous energies are unknown. This report gives a…
The curvature radiation produced by particles accelerating near the event horizon of a spinning supermassive black hole, threaded by externally supported magnetic field lines is considered. It is shown that light nuclei suffer catastrophic…
We discuss recent models in which neutrinos, which are assumed to have mass in the eV range, originate the highest energy cosmic rays by interaction with the enhanced density in the galactic halo of the relic cosmic neutrino background. We…
One of the most striking astrophysical phenomena today is the existence of cosmic ray particles with energies in excess of 10^20 eV. While their presence has been confirmed by a number of experiments, it is not clear where and how these…
Cosmic rays accelerated to ultra-high energies (E>4x10^19 eV) in electric fields in accretion discs around supermassive black holes are discussed. Particle injection spectra are assumed to be harder than those formed in acceleration on…
The highest energy cosmic rays could be produced by drifts in magnetized, cylindrically collimated, sheared jets of powerful active galaxies (i.e. FR II radiogalaxies; radio loud quasars and high power BL Lacs). We show that in such…
As recently suggested, nearby quasar remnants are plausible sites of black-hole based compact dynamos that could be capable of accelerating ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). In such a model, UHECRs would originate at the nuclei of…
We investigate the idea that ultrahigh energy gamma-rays (E>10 TeV) can be produced when charged particles are accelerated by microscopic black holes. We begin by showing that microscopic black holes may exist as remnants of primordial…
In this chapter I give an overview of shock acceleration, including a discussion of the maximum energies possible and the shape of the spectrum near cut-off, interactions of high energy cosmic rays with, and propagation through, the…