Effects of uncertainties in simulations of extragalactic UHECR propagation, using CRPropa and SimProp
- II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany)
- INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (L'Aquila) (Italy)
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche dell'Università dell'Aquila and INFN, L'Aquila (Italy)
The results of simulations of extragalactic propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) have intrinsic uncertainties due to poorly known physical quantities and approximations used in the codes. We quantify the uncertainties in the simulated UHECR spectrum and composition due to different models of extragalactic background light (EBL), different photodisintegration setups, approximations concerning photopion production and the use of different simulation codes. We discuss the results for several representative source scenarios with proton, nitrogen or iron at injection. For this purpose we used SimProp and CRPropa, two publicly available codes for Monte Carlo simulations of UHECR propagation. CRPropa is a detailed and extensive simulation code, while SimProp aims to achieve acceptable results using a simpler code. We show that especially the choices for the EBL model and the photodisintegration setup can have a considerable impact on the simulated UHECR spectrum and composition.
- OSTI ID:
- 22525217
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2015, Issue 10; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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