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Title: TeV Signatures of Compact UHECR Accelerators

Journal Article · · Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1926427· OSTI ID:20702286
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Institute of Theoretical Physics, EPFL BSP, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)
  2. Service de Physique Theorique, CP 225 Universite Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050, Brussels (Belgium)
  3. Department of Physics, Theory Division, CERN 1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland)

We numerically study particle acceleration by the electric field induced near the horizon of a rotating supermassive (M {approx} 10{sup 9}-10{sup 10}M{sub {center_dot}}) black hole embedded in the magnetic field B. We find that acceleration of protons to the energy E {approx} 10{sup 20} eV is possible only at extreme values of M and B. We also find that the acceleration is very inefficient and is accompanied by a broad-band MeV-TeV radiation whose total power exceeds the total power emitted in ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at least by a factor of 1000. This implies that if O(10) nearby quasar remnants were sources of proton events with an energy E > 10{sup 20} eV, then each quasar remnant would, e.g., overshine the Crab Nebula by more than two orders of magnitude in the TeV energy band. Recent TeV observations exclude this possibility. A model in which O(100) sources are situated at 100-1000 Mpc is not ruled out and can be experimentally tested by present TeV {gamma}-ray telescopes. Such a model can explain the observed UHECR flux at moderate energies E {approx_equal} (4-5) x 10{sup 19} eV.

OSTI ID:
20702286
Journal Information:
Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Vol. 100, Issue 4; Other Information: Translated from Zhurnal Ehksperimental'noj i Teoreticheskoj Fiziki, ISSN 0044-4510, 127, 744-751 (No. 4, 2005); DOI: 10.1134/1.1926427; (c) 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); TN:; ISSN 1063-7761
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English