Recent data from the Pierre Auger Observatory has revealed the presence of a large-scale dipole in the arrival direction distribution of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR). In this work, we build up an understanding of the diffusive origin of such a dipolar behavior as well as its dependency on energy and astrophysical source assumptions such as extragalactic magnetic field strength and cosmic ray composition. We present a novel analytical approach for calculating the angular distribution of CR coming from a single source and discuss the regimes in which the steady-state dipole result is expected. We also present a semianalytical method for calculating the evolution with energy of the resultant dipole for an ensemble of sources. We show that a local source allows for a strong growth of the dipole with energy over a large energy range. The possibility of a transition from a dipolar to non-dipolar regime at the highest energies and its implications for the source density, magnetic field intensity, and cosmic ray composition are discussed.
We demonstrate that the shower-to-shower fluctuations of the muon content of extensive air showers correlate with the fluctuations of a variable of the first interaction of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays, which is computed from the fraction of energy carried by the hadrons that sustain the hadronic cascade. The influence of subsequent stages of the shower development is found to play a sub-dominant role. As a consequence, the shower-to-shower distribution of the muon content is a direct probe of the hadron energy spectrum of interactions beyond 100 TeV center of mass energies.
We fit the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray (UHECR, $E\gtrsim0.1$ EeV) spectrum and composition data from the Pierre Auger Observatory at energies $E\gtrsim5\cdot10^{18}$ eV, i.e., beyond the ankle using two populations of astrophysical sources. One population, accelerating dominantly protons ($^1$H), extends up to the highest observed energies with maximum energy close to the GZK cutoff and injection spectral index near the Fermi acceleration model; while another population accelerates light-to-heavy nuclei ($^4$He, $^{14}$N, $^{28}$Si, $^{56}$Fe) with a relatively low rigidity cutoff and hard inj…
A hard $γ$-ray spectrum of supernova remnant G106.3+2.7 can be explained by using the hadronic model with the gluon condensation effect. This implies that not only PeVatrons but also EeVatrons generally exist in the universe including our galaxy, and they can accelerate protons to beyond "ankle" ($10^{19}~eV$). Although these proton beams are very weak in the galaxy and cannot be observed individually on the earth, the gluon condensation effect may greatly enhance the proton-proton cross section, which can compensate for the weak proton flux and produce the observed $γ$-rays. We also show that…
We explain the observed multiwavelength photon spectrum of a number of BL Lac objects detected at very high energy (VHE, $E \gtrsim 30$ GeV), using a lepto-hadronic emission model. The one-zone leptonic emission is employed to fit the synchrotron peak. Subsequently, the SSC spectrum is calculated, such that it extends up to the highest energy possible for the jet parameters considered. The data points beyond this energy, and also in the entire VHE range are well explained using a hadronic emission model. The ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs, $E\gtrsim 0.1$ EeV) escaping from the source int…
Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University(京都大学汤川理论物理研究所);The Pennsylvania State University(宾夕法尼亚州立大学);Virginia Tech(弗吉尼亚理工大学);The University of Tokyo(东京大学)
In the canonical model of a pulsar, rotational energy is transmitted through the surrounding plasma via two electrical circuits, each connecting to the star over a small region known as a "polar cap." For a dipole-magnetized star, the polar caps coincide with the magnetic poles (hence the name), but in general, they can occur at any place and take any shape. In light of their crucial importance to most models of pulsar emission (from radio to X-ray to wind), we develop a general technique for determining polar cap properties. We consider a perfectly conducting star surrounded by a force-free m…