Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userEvolution of the cosmic ray anisotropy above 10^{14} eV
129
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
The amplitude and phase of the cosmic ray anisotropy are well established experimentally between 10^{11} eV and 10^{14} eV. The study of their evolution into the energy region 10^{14}-10^{16} eV can provide a significant tool for the understanding of the steepening (knee) of the primary spectrum. In this letter we extend the EAS-TOP measurement performed at E_0 around 10^{14} eV, to higher energies by using the full data set (8 years of data taking). Results derived at about 10^{14} and 4x10^{14} eV are compared and discussed. Hints of increasing amplitude and change of phase above 10^{14} eV are reported. The significance of the observation for the understanding of cosmic ray propagation is discussed.
rate research
Read More
Cosmic rays are atomic nuclei arriving from outer space that reach the highest energies observed in nature. Clues to their origin come from studying the distribution of their arrival directions. Using $3 times 10^4$ cosmic rays above $8 times 10^{18}$ electron volts, recorded with the Pierre Auger Observatory from a total exposure of 76,800 square kilometers steradian year, we report an anisotropy in the arrival directions. The anisotropy, detected at more than the 5.2$sigma$ level of significance, can be described by a dipole with an amplitude of $6.5_{-0.9}^{+1.3}$% towards right ascension $alpha_{d} = 100 pm 10$ degrees and declination $delta_{d} = -24_{-13}^{+12}$ degrees. That direction indicates an extragalactic origin for these ultra-high energy particles.
Anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies above 10$^{17}$eV is studied using data from the Akeno 20 km$^2$ array and the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA), using a total of about 117,000 showers observed during 11 years. In the first harmonic analysis, we have found strong anisotropy of $sim$ 4% around 10$^{18}$eV, corresponding to a chance probability of 0.2%. With two dimensional analysis in right ascension and declination, this anisotropy is interpreted as an excess of showers near the directions of the Galactic Center and the Cygnus region.
We report a measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays for energies above $2.5 {times} 10^{18}~$eV based on 215,030 events recorded with zenith angles below $60^circ$. A key feature of the work is that the estimates of the energies are independent of assumptions about the unknown hadronic physics or of the primary mass composition. The measurement is the most precise made hitherto with the accumulated exposure being so large that the measurements of the flux are dominated by systematic uncertainties except at energies above $5 {times} 10^{19}~$eV. The principal conclusions are: (1) The flattening of the spectrum near $5 {times} 10^{18}~$eV, the so-called ankle, is confirmed. (2) The steepening of the spectrum at around $5 {times} 10^{19}~$eV is confirmed. (3) A new feature has been identified in the spectrum: in the region above the ankle the spectral index $gamma$ of the particle flux ($propto E^{-gamma}$) changes from $2.51 pm 0.03~{rm (stat.)} pm 0.05~{rm (sys.)}$ to $3.05 pm 0.05~{rm (stat.)} pm 0.10~{rm (sys.)}$ before changing sharply to $5.1 pm 0.3~{rm (stat.)} pm 0.1~{rm (sys.)}$ above $5 {times} 10^{19}~$eV. (4) No evidence for any dependence of the spectrum on declination has been found other than a mild excess from the Southern Hemisphere that is consistent with the anisotropy observed above $8 {times} 10^{18}~$eV.
We introduce a method to constrain the characteristic angular size of the brightest cosmic-ray sources observed above 57 times 1018 eV. By angular size of a source, we mean the effective angular extent over which cosmic-rays from that source arrive at earth. The method is based on the small-scale (< 10circ) self-clustering of cosmic-ray arrival directions. The method is applicable to sparse data sets in which strong localizations of CR* directions are not yet observed. We show that useful constraints on the source size can be made in the near future and that these constraints are not strongly dependent on the assumed spatial distribution and luminosity function of the cosmic-ray sources. We suggest that an indication of the source size is quite telling. For example, an indication of the source size can be used to infer limits on the particle charge and intervening magnetic fields (not independently), both of which are not well constrained so far. This is possible because the source size is similar in scale to the magnetic deflection.
A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{times}10^{18}$ eV, the ankle, the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-gamma}$ with index $gamma=2.70 pm 0.02 ,text{(stat)} pm 0.1,text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_text{s}=(5.12pm0.25,text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2},text{(sys)}){times}10^{19}$ eV.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
