Related papers: Intergalactic Propagation of UHE Cosmic Rays
Since their first observation in 1962, the existence of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) remains a mystery in modern astrophysics. Those cosmic rays, with energies well above 50 EeV ($50\times 10^{18}$eV), can hardly be accelerated,…
We study the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic ray nuclei through the background of cosmic microwave and intergalactic infrared photons, using recent re-estimates for the density of the last ones. We perform a detailed Monte Carlo…
Energetics of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) generated in the universe is crucial for pinning down their candidate sources. Using the recent Auger data on UHECR spectra, we calculate the UHECR energy generation rate density for…
The acceleration of ultrahigh energy nuclei in fast spinning newborn pulsars can explain the observed spectrum of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and the trend towards heavier nuclei for energies above $10^{19}\,$eV as reported by the Auger…
The flux of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) at $E>10^{18.5}$ eV is believed to arise in plasma shock environments in extragalactic sources. In this paper, we present a systematic study of particle acceleration by relativistic shocks,…
Recent evidence from the Pierre Auger Observatory suggests a transition, at 5 EeV-10EeV in the composition of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), from protons to heavier nuclei such as iron. I consider here the implications of the…
The interactions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) in extragalactic space with photons of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and extragalactic background light (EBL) can generate high-energy neutrinos and photons. Simulations of…
Photodisintegration is a main energy loss process for ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray (UHECR) nuclei in intergalactic space. Therefore, it is crucial to understand systematic uncertainty in photodisintegration when simulating the propagation of…
The gamma-ray burst (GRB) model for production of ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECRs) is based on the hypothesis that GRBs arise from the dissipation of the kinetic energy of relativistic fireballs at cosmological distances. Recent GRB…
We review the basic ideas on the origin of cosmic rays with energy in excess of $\sim 10^{19}$ eV, in the light of the most recent observational findings. The limited statistics of events detected by the two largest experiments currently…
We investigate whether ultra--high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) may be preferentially produced in massive galaxy clusters, by looking for correlations between UHECR directions and those of x-ray clusters. We find an excess-above-random of…
We review the experimental evidences about flux and mass composition of ultra high energy cosmic rays in connection with theoretical scenarios concerning astrophysical sources. In this context, we also address the discussion about the…
We explore inferences on ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHECR) source environments -- constrained by the spectrum and composition of UHECRs and non-observation of extremely high energy neutrinos -- and their implications for the observed high…
Very-high energy (GeV-TeV) gamma rays in the universe suggest the presence of an accelerator in the source. Neutrinos and gamma rays are intriguing astrophysical messengers. Multi-messenger particle emission produced by interactions of…
Recent studies suggest that the most energetic cosmic rays, exceeding 100 EeV, may primarily consist of $r$-process nuclei. This highlights binary neutron star mergers and collapsars as promising sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays…
We study the propagation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR) in the Galaxy, concentrating on the energy range below the ankle in the spectrum at 4 EeV. A Monte-Carlo method, based on analytical solutions to the time-dependent diffusion…
The interpretation of the ultra-high-energy cosmic ray spectrum (UHECRs) and composition suggests a suppression of the flux below $\sim$1 EeV, as observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array. A natural explanation for this…
Both the lack of observation of ultra-high energy (UHE) photons and the limitations of the state-of-the-art methodology being applied for their identification motivate studies on alternative approaches to the relevant simulations and the…
Fast-spinning newborn pulsars are intriguing candidate sources of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The acceleration of particles with a given composition in a fraction of the extragalactic pulsar population can give a consistent…
Locating the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) still remains a difficult puzzle for modern astrophysics. A major hurdle in the search for the sources is the fact that UHECRs are deflected by the Galactic magnetic field…