Indications of negative evolution for the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays
Abstract
Using recent measurements of the spectrum and chemical composition of the highest energy cosmic rays, we consider the sources of these particles. We find that these data strongly prefer models in which the sources of the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays inject predominantly intermediate mass nuclei, with comparatively few protons or heavy nuclei, such as iron or silicon. If the number density of sources per comoving volume does not evolve with redshift, the injected spectrum must be very hard (α≃1) in order to fit the spectrum observed from Earth. Such a hard spectral index would be surprising and difficult to accommodate theoretically. In contrast, much softer spectral indices, consistent with the predictions of Fermi acceleration (α≃2), are favored in models with negative source evolution. Furthermore with this theoretical bias, these observations thus favor models in which the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays are preferentially located within the low-redshift universe.
- Authors:
-
- Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin (Ireland)
- Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC), Madison, WI (United States); Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI (United States)
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1212727
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1215751
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-PUB-15-235-A
Journal ID: ISSN 1550-7998; PRVDAQ; arXiv eprint number arXiv:1505.06090
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359; FG02-13ER41958; SC0009924
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 92; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1550-7998
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Citation Formats
Taylor, Andrew M., Ahlers, Markus, and Hooper, Dan. Indications of negative evolution for the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.92.063011.
Taylor, Andrew M., Ahlers, Markus, & Hooper, Dan. Indications of negative evolution for the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.063011
Taylor, Andrew M., Ahlers, Markus, and Hooper, Dan. Mon .
"Indications of negative evolution for the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.063011. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1212727.
@article{osti_1212727,
title = {Indications of negative evolution for the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays},
author = {Taylor, Andrew M. and Ahlers, Markus and Hooper, Dan},
abstractNote = {Using recent measurements of the spectrum and chemical composition of the highest energy cosmic rays, we consider the sources of these particles. We find that these data strongly prefer models in which the sources of the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays inject predominantly intermediate mass nuclei, with comparatively few protons or heavy nuclei, such as iron or silicon. If the number density of sources per comoving volume does not evolve with redshift, the injected spectrum must be very hard (α≃1) in order to fit the spectrum observed from Earth. Such a hard spectral index would be surprising and difficult to accommodate theoretically. In contrast, much softer spectral indices, consistent with the predictions of Fermi acceleration (α≃2), are favored in models with negative source evolution. Furthermore with this theoretical bias, these observations thus favor models in which the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays are preferentially located within the low-redshift universe.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.92.063011},
journal = {Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology},
number = 6,
volume = 92,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
Web of Science
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