Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Rays Research Articles

Diffusive shock acceleration at EeV and associated multimessenger flux from ultra-fast outflows driven by active galactic nuclei

ABSTRACT Active galactic nuclei (AGN) can launch and sustain powerful winds featuring mildly relativistic velocity and wide opening angle. Such winds, known as ultra-fast outflows (UFOs), can develop a bubble structure characterized by a forward shock expanding in the host galaxy and a wind termination shock separating the fast, cool wind from the hot shocked wind. In this work, we explore whether diffusive shock acceleration can take place efficiently at the wind termination shock of UFOs. We calculate the spectrum of accelerated particles and find that protons can be energized up to the EeV range promoting UFOs to promising candidates for accelerating ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We also compute the associated gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes and compare them with available data in the literature. We observe that high-energy (HE) neutrinos are efficiently produced up to hundreds of PeV while the associated gamma rays could be efficiently absorbed beyond a few tens of GeV by the optical-ultraviolet AGN photon field. By assuming a typical source density of non-jetted AGN, we expect that UFOs could play a dominant role as diffuse sources of UHECRs and HE neutrinos. We finally apply our model to the recently observed NGC1068 and we find out that under specific parametric conditions an obscured UFO could provide a sizeable contribution to the observed gamma-ray flux while only contributing up to ∼10 per cent to the associated neutrino flux.

Triggering Higgs vacuum decay

The Standard Model Higgs potential seems unstable at field values h > htop ~ 1010 GeV. Vacuum decay can be triggered by N ~ 4π/λ ~ 1000 overlapped Higgs bosons with energy λ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sqrt{\\lambda } $$\\end{document}htop. However, this configuration is stimulated by ultra-high energy collisions with a exp(−O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document}(N)) suppression, comparable to spontaneous vacuum decay: no ‘Higgspolosion’ enhancement arises. This implies that ultra-high energy cosmic ray collisions are safe, despite that their number (in production sites) likely is tens of orders of magnitude higher than what usually estimated (in space). We speculate on how vacuum decay could be induced classically, forming a in-coming wave of N boosted Higgs bosons at futuristic ultra-high energy colliders, and on how the resulting vacuum bubble could be controlled to extract energy.

High-energy Electromagnetic, Neutrino, and Cosmic-Ray Emission by Stellar-mass Black Holes in Disks of Active Galactic Nuclei

Some Seyfert galaxies are detected in high-energy gamma rays, but the mechanism and site of gamma-ray emission are unknown. Also, the origins of the cosmic high-energy neutrino and MeV gamma-ray backgrounds have been veiled in mystery since their discoveries. We propose emission from stellar-mass BHs (sBHs) embedded in disks of active galactic nuclei as their possible sources. These sBHs are predicted to launch jets due to the Blandford–Znajek mechanism, which can produce intense electromagnetic, neutrino, and cosmic-ray emissions. We investigate whether these emissions can be the sources of cosmic high-energy particles. We find that emission from internal shocks in the jets can explain gamma rays from nearby radio-quiet Seyfert galaxies including NGC 1068, if the Lorentz factor of the jets (Γj) is high. On the other hand, for moderate Γj, the emission can significantly contribute to the background gamma-ray and neutrino intensities in the ~MeV and ≲PeV bands, respectively. Furthermore, for moderate Γj with efficient amplification of the magnetic field and cosmic-ray acceleration, the neutrino emission from NGC 1068 and the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays can be explained. These results suggest that the neutrino flux from NGC 1068 as well as the background intensities of MeV gamma rays, neutrinos, and the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays can be explained by a unified model. Future MeV gamma-ray satellites will test our scenario for neutrino emission.

The role of supernovae inside AGN jets in UHECR acceleration

Context. Jets of active galactic nuclei are potential accelerators of ultra high-energy cosmic rays. Supernovae can occur inside these jets and contribute to cosmic ray acceleration, particularly of heavy nuclei, but that contribution has been hardly investigated so far. Aims. We carried out a first dedicated exploration of the role of supernovae inside extragalactic jets in the production of ultra high-energy cosmic rays. Methods. We characterized the energy budget of supernova-jet interactions, and the maximum possible energies of the particles accelerated in those events, likely dominated by heavy nuclei. This allowed us to assess whether these interactions can be potential acceleration sites of ultra high-energy cosmic rays, or at least of their seeds. For that, we estimated the cosmic ray luminosity for different galaxy types, and compared the injection rate of cosmic ray seeds into the jet with that due to galactic cosmic ray entrainment. Results. Since the supernova is fueled for a long time by the luminosity of the jet, the energy of a supernova-jet interaction can be several orders of magnitude greater than that of an isolated supernova. Thus, despite the low rate of supernovae expected to occur in the jet, they could still provide more seeds for accelerating ultra high-energy particles than cosmic ray entrainment from the host galaxy. Moreover, these interactions can create sufficiently efficient accelerators to be a source of cosmic rays with energies ≳10 EeV. Conclusions. Supernova-jet interactions can contribute significantly to the production of ultra high-energy cosmic rays, either directly by accelerating these particles themselves or indirectly by providing pre-accelerated seeds.

Feasibility of Correlated Extensive Air Shower Detection with a Distributed Cosmic-Ray Network

We explore the sensitivity offered by a global network of cosmic-ray detectors to a novel, unobserved phenomenon: widely separated simultaneous extended air showers. Existing localized observatories work independently to observe individual showers, offering insight into the source and nature of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. However no current observatory is large enough to provide sensitivity to anticipated processes such as the Gerasimova–Zatsepin effect or potential new physics that generate simultaneous air showers separated by hundreds to thousands of kilometers. A global network of consumer electronics (the Cosmic Rays Found In Smartphones (CRAYFIS) experiment), may provide a novel opportunity for observation of such phenomena. Two user scenarios are explored. In the first, with maximal user adoption, we find that statistically significant discoveries of spatially separated but coincident showers are possible within a couple years. In the second, more practical adoption model with 106 active devices, we find a worldwide CRAYFIS to be sensitive to novel “burst” phenomena where many simultaneous extensive air showers (EAS) occur at once.

Energy flow in ultra-high energy cosmic ray interactions as a probe of thermalization: A potential solution to the muon puzzle

Signatures of the formation of a strongly interacting thermalized matter of partons have been observed in nucleus-nucleus, proton-nucleus, and high-multiplicity proton-proton collisions at LHC energies. Strangeness enhancement in such ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions is considered to be a consequence of this thermalized phase, known as quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Simultaneously, proper modeling of hadronic energy fraction in interactions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) has been proposed as a solution for the “muon puzzle”, an unexpected excess of muons in air showers. These interactions have center-of-mass collision energies of the order of energies attained at the LHC or even higher, indicating that the possibility of a thermalized partonic state cannot be overlooked in UHECR-air interactions. This work investigates the hadronic energy fraction and strangeness enhancement to explore QGP-like phenomena in UHECR-air interactions using various high-energy hadronic models. A core-corona system with a thermalized core undergoing statistical hadronization is considered through the EPOS LHC model. In contrast, PYTHIA 8, QGSJET II-04, and SYBILL 2.3d consider string fragmentation without thermalization. We have found that EPOS LHC gives a better description of strangeness enhancement as compared to other models. We conclude that adequately treating all the relevant effects and further retuning the models is necessary to explain the observed effects.

General polytropic spheres as gravitational lenses

We propose hydrostatic polytropic spheres governed by the Lane-Emden equation (LEE) of index n as a novel set of physical models for axially averaged gravitational lenses anywhere in the Universe, alternative to the familiar singular isothermal sphere (SIS) and the Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) profile, as such general polytropic spheres are conceptually simple, versatile in representing a series of equations of state, and able to address both the inner core and cusp features. As LEE is nonlinear, there exist several distinct classes of LEE solutions to serve as physical lens models. With a few scaling parameters, the complete problem can be readily reconstructed with full physical dimensions. A given mass density profile satisfying LEE produces lensing effects that are solely determined by a dimensionless parameter q which contains geometric and kinematic information about the source-lens-observer system. The lens mapping and tangential shear or distortion profile are derived, first analytically for special cases and then asymptotically at the outskirts or near the edge of the lens. Numerical procedures for calculating full lensing profiles of a general lens are developed. Our results include the analytical “singular polytropic sphere” (SPS) profile which generalizes the SIS model and may outperform the latter in modeling dark matter halos among others. We further point out that dynamic models of general polytropic spheres in self-similar evolution can serve as several broad classes of gravitational lenses and produce time-dependent lensing effects slow or fast depending on the pertinent time scales. Astrophysical sources that can be lensed include electromagnetic wave sources in the entire frequency band, gravitational wave sources in the entire frequency band, gravitons even possibly with finite masses, neutrino sources of three different types, neutron sources, and ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) of electrically charged particles which can also interact with magnetic fields. We discuss and elabrate applications to dark matter halos, hypermassive black holes and supermassive black holes in the entire Universe including the early Universe, magnetized supermassive stars, static and dynamically evolving spherical and cylindrical lenses in contexts of astrophysics and cosmology.

Differences between the Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array Spectra: Systematic Effects or Indication of a Local Source of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays?

The Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) and Telescope Array (TA) collaborations report significant differences in the observed energy spectra of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) above 30 EeV. In this work we present a joint fit of TA and PAO data using the rigidity-dependent maximum energy model, including a full marginalization over all relevant parameters. We test two possible scenarios to explain these differences. One is that they are due to complex energy-dependent experimental systematics; the other is the presence of a local astrophysical source in the Northern Hemisphere, which is only visible by the TA experiment. We show that the astrophysical and systematic scenarios improve the explanation of the data equally well, compared to the scenario where both experiments observe the same UHECR flux from a cosmological source distribution and have energy-independent systematics. We test different mass compositions emitted from the local source and conclude that the data are best described by a source lying at a distance below 26 Mpc that emits cosmic rays dominated by the silicon mass group. We also discuss possible source candidates and the possible role of the putative local UHECR source in the observed TA anisotropy and in the differences in TA spectral data from different decl. bands.

Probing the dark dimension with Auger data

By combining swampland conjectures with observational data, it was recently pointed out that our universe could stretch off in an asymptotic region of the string landscape of vacua. Within this framework, the cosmological hierarchy problem (i.e. the smallness of the cosmological constant in Planck units: Λ∼10−122MPl4) can be naturally resolved by the addition of one mesoscopic (dark) dimension of size ∼λΛ−1/4∼1μm. The Planck scale of the higher dimensional theory, MUV∼λ−1/3Λ1/12MPl2/3∼1010GeV, is tantalizingly close to the energy above which the Telescope Array (TA) and the Pierre Auger collaborations found conclusive evidence for a sharp cutoff of the flux of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). It was recently suggested that since physics becomes strongly coupled to gravity beyond MUV, universal features deep-rooted in the dark dimension could control the energy cutoff of the source spectra ∝E−γexp(−E/MUV), where E is the cosmic ray energy and γ a free parameter. Conversely, in the absence of phenomena inborn within the dark dimension, we would expect a high variance of the cosmic ray maximum energy Emax characterizing the source spectra ∝E−γexp(−E/Emax), reflecting the many different properties inherent to the most commonly assumed UHECR accelerators. The most recent analysis of Auger and TA data exposed strong evidence for a correlation between UHECRs and nearby starburst galaxies, with a global significance post-trial of 4.7σ. Since these galaxies are in our cosmic backyard, the flux attenuation factor due to cosmic ray interactions en route to Earth turns out to be negligible. This reasoning implies that for each source, the shape of the observed spectrum should roughly match the emission spectrum by the starburst, providing a unique testing ground for the dark dimension hypothesis. Using Auger data, we carry out a maximum likelihood analysis to characterize the shape of the UHECR emission from the galaxies dominating the anisotropy signal. We show that the observed spectra from these sources could be universal only if λ≲10−3.

Nearby active galactic nuclei and starburst galaxies as sources of the measured UHECRs anisotropy signal

The Pierre Auger and the Telescope Array observatories have measured independent and statistical significant anisotropy in the arrival direction of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR). Three hotspot regions with relative excess of events and a dipole signal have been identified in different regions of the sky and energy ranges. In this paper, we investigate the conditions under which these anisotropy signal could be generated by nearby (<23 Mpc) active galactic nuclei (AGN) and/or starburst galaxies (SBG). We studied a wide range of possibilities including injected nuclei (p, He, N, Si, and Fe), three UHECR luminosity proxies and three extragalactic magnetic field models. The results shows that both local AGN and SBG are needed to describe all the anisotropy signal. The contribution of AGN to hotspots and to the generation of the dipole is dominant in most cases. SBG is required only to explain the hotspot measured by the Telescope Array Observatory.

Input of nearby sources in spectra and anisotropy of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

Propagation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays from nearby sources was investigated. It is shown that observable spectrum, chemical composition and anisotropy at energies above 5 · 1018 eV can be explained in the model of one nearby source galaxy M87 with heavy chemical composition.

Contribution from Nearby Sources to the Observed Spectra and Anisotropy of Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic Rays

Contribution from Nearby Sources to the Observed Spectra and Anisotropy of Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic Rays

Interpretation of fluxes of cosmic rays’ nuclei and electrons in the nonclassical diffusion model

We discuss new scenario of the formation of the observed spectra of electrons/positrons and nuclei of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays in the framework of the nonclassical (superdiffusion) model of particles propagation in a highly inhomogeneous interstellar and intergalactic media. It is shown that the proposed scenario provides a consistent description of the experimental data of precision satellite measurements, ground-based hybrid EAS arrays and Cherenkov telescopes on the spectra of leptons and nuclei, as well as the mass composition of cosmic rays in the range of super-high and ultrahigh energies.

Nuclear and electromagnetic cascades induced by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays in radio galaxies: implications for Centaurus A

ABSTRACT Very high energy (VHE) γ-rays ($\gtrsim\!\! 0.1\rm ~TeV$) and neutrinos are crucial for identifying accelerators of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), but this is challenging especially for UHECR nuclei. In this work, we develop a numerical code to solve the transport equation for UHECRs and their secondaries, where both nuclear and electromagnetic cascades are taken into account self-consistently, considering steady UHECR accelerators such as radio galaxies. In particular, we focus on Centaurus A, which has been proposed as one of the most promising UHECR sources in the local Universe. Motivated by observations of extended VHE γ-ray emission from its kiloparsec-scale jet by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), we study interactions between UHECRs accelerated in the large-scale jet and various target photon fields including blazar-like beamed core emission, and present a quantitative study on VHE γ-ray signatures of UHECR nuclei, including the photodisintegration and Bethe–Heitler pair production processes. We show that VHE γ-rays from UHECR nuclei could be detected by the ground-based γ-ray telescopes given that the dominant composition of UHECRs consists of intermediate-mass (such as oxygen) nuclei.

Multicollision Internal Shock Lepto-hadronic Models for Energetic Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs)

For a subpopulation of energetic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), a moderate baryonic loading may suffice to power ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). Motivated by this, we study the radiative signatures of cosmic-ray protons in the prompt phase of energetic GRBs. Our framework is the internal shock model with multicollision descriptions of the relativistic ejecta (with different emission regions along the jet), plus time-dependent calculations of photon and neutrino spectra. Our GRB prototypes are motivated by Fermi-Large Area Telescope-detected GRBs (including GRB 221009A) for which further, owing to the large energy flux, neutrino nonobservation of single events may pose a strong limit on the baryonic loading. We study the feedback of protons on electromagnetic spectra in synchrotron- and inverse Compton-dominated scenarios to identify the multiwavelength signatures, to constrain the maximally allowed baryonic loading, and to point out the differences between hadronic and inverse Compton signatures. We find that hadronic signatures appear as correlated flux increases in the optical-UV to soft X-ray and GeV–TeV gamma-ray ranges in the synchrotron scenarios, whereas they are difficult to identify in inverse Compton-dominated scenarios. We demonstrate that baryonic loadings around 10, which satisfy the UHECR energetic requirements, do not distort the predicted photon spectra in the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor range and are consistent with constraints from neutrino data if the collision radii are large enough (i.e., the time variability is not too short). It therefore seems plausible that under the condition of large dissipation radii a population of energetic GRBs can be the origin of the UHECRs.

Greisen function and its ability to describe air-shower profiles

Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays are almost exclusively detected through extensive air showers, which they initiate upon interaction with the atmosphere. The longitudinal development of these air showers can be directly observed using fluorescence detector telescopes, such as those employed at the Pierre Auger Observatory or the Telescope Array. In this article, we discuss the properties of the Greisen function, which was initially derived as an approximate solution to the electromagnetic cascade equations, and its ability to describe the longitudinal shower profiles. We demonstrate that the Greisen function can be used to describe longitudinal air-shower profiles, even for hadronic air showers. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility to discriminate between hadrons and photons from the shape of air-shower profiles using the Greisen function.

Evaluations of uncertainties in simulations of propagation of ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray nuclei derived from microscopic nuclear models

Photodisintegration is a main energy loss process for ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray (UHECR) nuclei in intergalactic space. Therefore, it is crucial to understand systematic uncertainty in photodisintegration when simulating the propagation of UHECR nuclei. In this work, we calculated the cross sections using the random phase approximation (RPA) of density functional theory (DFT), a microscopic nuclear model. We calculated the E1 strength of 29 nuclei using three different density functionals. We obtained the cross sections of photonuclear reactions, including photodisintegration, with the E1 strength. Then, we implemented the cross sections in the cosmic-ray propagation code CRPropa. We found that assuming certain astrophysical parameter values, the difference between UHECR energy spectrum predictions using the RPA calculation and the default photodisintegration model in CRPropa can be more than the statistical uncertainty of the spectrum. We also found that the differences between the RPA calculations and CRPropa default in certain astrophysical parameters obtained by a combined fit of UHECR energy spectrum and composition data assuming a phenomenological model of UHECR sources can be more than the uncertainty of the data.

MRNG: Accessing Cosmic Radiation as an Entropy Source for a Non-Deterministic Random Number Generator.

Privacy and security require not only strong algorithms but also reliable and readily available sources of randomness. To tackle this problem, one of the causes of single-event upsets is the utilization of a non-deterministic entropy source, specifically ultra-high energy cosmic rays. An adapted prototype based on existing muon detection technology was used as the methodology during the experiment and tested for its statistical strength. Our results show that the random bit sequence extracted from the detections successfully passed established randomness tests. The detections correspond to cosmic rays recorded using a common smartphone during our experiment. Despite the limited sample, our work provides valuable insights into the use of ultra-high energy cosmic rays as an entropy source.

Curious case of the maximum rigidity distribution of cosmic-ray accelerators

Models of sources of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR)s usually assume that these sources, despite significant variability between them, accelerate particles to the same maximum energy. Here, the authors improve on this assumption by assigning their array of sources a broken-power-law distribution of the maximum energies. They observe that a power law distribution necessitates that the source to source variation be small.

Prospects for joint cosmic ray and neutrino constraints on the evolution of trans-Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin proton sources

We consider the prospects for future ultrahigh energy cosmic ray and neutrino observations to constrain the evolution of sources producing a proton flux above 10 EeV ($1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{EeV}={10}^{18}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$). We find that strong constraints on the source evolution can be obtained by combining measurements of the cosmic ray proton fraction above 30 EeV with measurement of the neutrino flux at 1 EeV, if neutrinos are predominantly of cosmogenic origin. In the case that interactions in the source environment produce a significant astrophysical neutrino flux, constraints on the source evolution may require measurement of the observed proton fraction, as well as, the neutrino flux at multiple energies, such as 1 EeV and 10 EeV. Finally, we show that fits to current UHECR data favor models which result in a $&gt;30\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{EeV}$ proton fraction and 1 EeV neutrino flux that could realistically be discovered by the next generation of experiments.