“ESPRESSO” ACCELERATION OF ULTRA-HIGH-ENERGY COSMIC RAYS
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Ln., Princeton NJ 08544 (United States)
We propose that ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic rays (CRs) above 10{sup 18} eV are produced in relativistic jets of powerful active galactic nuclei via an original mechanism, which we dub “espresso” acceleration: “seed” galactic CRs with energies ≲10{sup 17} eV that penetrate the jet sideways receive a “one-shot” boost of a factor of ∼Γ{sup 2} in energy, where Γ is the Lorentz factor of the relativistic flow. For typical jet parameters, a few percent of the CRs in the host galaxy can undergo this process, and powerful blazars with Γ ≳ 30 may accelerate UHECRs up to more than 10{sup 20} eV. The chemical composition of espresso-accelerated UHECRs is determined by that at the Galactic CR knee and is expected to be proton-dominated at 10{sup 18} eV and increasingly heavy at higher energies, in agreement with recent observations made at the Pierre Auger Observatory.
- OSTI ID:
- 22518869
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 811, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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