Related papers: Cosmic rays above the ankle from Z-bursts
The origin of Ultra--High Energy ($E \gsim 10^{20}$ eV) Cosmic Rays (UHECR) remains mysterious. I discuss ``top--down'' models, where UHECR originate from the decay of very massive, long--lived particles. I summarize the calculation of the…
We discuss the possibility that a dominant fraction of the cosmic rays above the ankle is due to a single nearby source, considering in particular the radio galaxy Centaurus A. We focus on the properties of the source spectrum and…
The existence of cosmic rays of energies exceeding 10^20 eV is one of the mysteries of high energy astrophysics. The spectrum and the high energy to which it extends rule out almost all suggested source models. The challenges posed by…
The IceCube experiment recently detected the first flux of high-energy neutrinos in excess of atmospheric backgrounds. We examine whether these neutrinos originate from within the same extragalactic sources as ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays.…
We argue that if ultrahigh-energy (E > 10^10 GeV) cosmic rays are heavy nuclei (as indicated by existing data), then the pointing of cosmic rays to their nearest extragalactic sources is expected for 10^10.6 < E/GeV < 10^11. This is because…
We demonstrate that a population of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) can describe the observed spectrum of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at and above the ankle, and that the dominant contribution comes from low-luminosity BL Lacs. An…
The clustering of ultra high energy (above 5\cdot 10^{19} eV) cosmic rays (UHECR) suggests that they might be emitted by compact sources. We present a statistical analysis on the source density based on the multiplicities. The propagation…
The whole spectrum of high-energy cosmic ray (HECR) is, very likely, influenced by tachyonic neutrinos. Especially, the appearance of two knees can be fitted by the tachyon mass $m(\nu_e)=m(\nu_\mu)\simeq 0.51$ eV/$c^2$ as predicted by a…
Under current conditions, the cosmic ray spectrum incident on the Earth is dominated by particles with energies < 1 GeV. Astrophysical sources including high energy solar flares, supernovae and gamma ray bursts produce high energy cosmic…
We consider the advantages of and the problems associated with hypotheses to explain the origin of ulthrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECR: E > 10 EeV) and the "trans GZK" cosmic rays (TGZK: E > 100 EeV), both through "old physics"…
If Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) with E>4 10^{19} eV originate from BL Lacertae at cosmological distances as suggested by recent studies, the absence of the GZK cutoff can not be reconciled with Standard-Model particle properties.…
The high energy spectrum of cosmic rays presents three distinct traits, the second knee, the ankle, and the GZK cutoff and as such, a thorough understanding of cosmic rays encompasses the study of these three features. It is in the second…
Neutrinos are the best candidates to test the extreme Universe and ideas beyond the Standard Model of particle Physics. Once produced, neutrinos do not suffer any kind of attenuation by intervening radiation fields like the Cosmic Microwave…
Neutrino astronomy offers the possibility to perform extra-galactic observations well beyond the photon absorption cutoff above 50 TeV. Based on observations of cosmic rays, we already know that astrophysical sources produce particles with…
Cosmic ray events beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cut-off represent a great challenge for particle physics and cosmology. We show that the physics of heavy Majorana neutrinos, well defined by their masses, cross sections and lifetimes,…
Cosmic ray events above 10^19 eV have posed a fundamental problem for more than thirty years. Recent measurements indicate that these events do not show the features predicted by the GZK bound. The events may, in addition, display angular…
Ultra High Cosmic Rays (UHECR) Astronomy may be correlated to a primary parental Neutrino Astronomy: indeed any far BL Lac Jet or GRB, sources of UHECR, located at cosmic edges, may send its signal, overcoming the severe GZK cut-off, by…
The search for a theory of the origin of cosmic rays that may be considered as a standard, agreeable model is still ongoing. On one hand, much circumstantial evidence exists of the fact that supernovae in our Galaxy play a crucial role in…
The possibility that the observed Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays are generated by high energy neutrinos creating "Z-bursts" in resonant interactions with the background neutrinos has been proposed, but there are difficulties in generating…
The current status of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) is reviewed, with emphasis given to theoretical interpretation of the observed events. The galactic and extragalactic origin, in case of astrophysical sources of UHE particles,…