Can ultra high energy cosmic rays be evidence for new particle physics?
- Department of Physics and Astronomy Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855 (United States)
Candidate astrophysical acceleration sites capable of producing the highest energy cosmic rays (E>10{sup 19.5} eV) appear to be at far greater distances than is compatible with their being known particles. The properties of a new particle which can account for observations are discussed and found to be tightly constrained. In order to travel 100's or 1000's of Mpc through the cosmic microwave background radiation without severe energy loss and yet produce a shower in Earth's atmosphere which is consistent with observations, it must be a hadron with mass of order a few GeV and lifetime greater than about 1 week. A particle with the required properties was identified years ago in the context of supersymmetric theories with a very light gluino Laboratory experiments do not exclude it, as is discussed briefly.
- OSTI ID:
- 21199244
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 433, Issue 1; Conference: Workshop on observing giant cosmic ray air showers from >10{sup 20} eV particles from space, College Park, MD (United States), 13-15 Nov 1997; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.56113; (c) 1998 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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