Grand unified theories, topological defects, and ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5508330

Bhattacharjee, P; Hill, C T; Schramm, D N

The ultrahigh-energy (UHE) proton and neutrino spectra resulting from collapse or annihilations of topological defects surviving from the GUT era are calculated. Irrespective of the specific process under consideration (which determines the overall normalization of the spectrum), the UHE proton spectrum always 'recovers' at approximately 1.8 x 10 exp 11 GeV after a partial Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min 'cutoff' at approximately 5 x 10 exp 10 GeV and continues to a GUT-scale energy with a universal shape determined by the physics of hadronic jet fragmentation. Implications of our results are discussed.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab., Batavia, IL (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-91ER40606
• OSTI ID: 5508330
• Report Number(s): N-92-18273; NASA-CR--189841; NAS--1.26:189841; FERMILAB-PUB--91/304-A; CNN: NAGW-1321; NAGW-1340; NSF INT-91-10117; NSF AST-91-22629
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

661300 -- Other Aspects of Physical Science-- (1992-)
662210* -- Specific Theories & Interaction Models
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANNIHILATION
BARYONS
BASIC INTERACTIONS
COSMIC RADIATION
DEFECTS
ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERACTIONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY SPECTRA
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
FRAGMENTATION
GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE
HADRONS
INTERACTIONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS
NEUTRINOS
NUCLEONS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE MODELS
PROTONS
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Particle Systematics-- Unified Theories & Models-- (1992-)
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA
SYMMETRY BREAKING
TOPOLOGY
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES