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arXiv 2304.07321astro-ph.HE
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最高能宇宙线质子占比的约束及其对宇宙生成中微子和光子的影响

Constraints on the proton fraction of cosmic rays at the highest energies and the consequences for cosmogenic neutrinos and photons

Domenik Ehlert, Arjen van Vliet, Foteini Oikonomou, Walter Winter

AI总结:

本研究结合多信使观测约束,量化最高能段超高能质子的可能占比,分析其对应的宇宙生成中微子与伽马射线流强,为未来多信使观测提供新方向。

摘要:

过去十年的观测表明,超高能宇宙线(UHECRs)的平均质量随能量升高而逐步增加。但其确切成分仍未明确,多项理论研究暗示,在最高能段仍存在占比不高的质子成分。受利用超高能(UHE)质子开展带电粒子天文学研究的诱人前景驱动,我们量化了与当前多信使观测结果相符的超高能质子流强水平,以及质子相互作用产生的中性信使相关流强。我们通过两类独立河外天体源族的数值模拟研究该情形,对超高能宇宙线的组合能谱和成分观测量进行拟合,同时受弥散伽马射线和中微子观测的约束。我们发现,最高能段的宇宙线中,至多约10%可以是超高能质子,不过该结果极大程度上取决于为大气簇射选取的强相互作用模型。根据质子最大能量($E_\text{max}^\text{p}$)和源的红移演化情况不同,相关的宇宙生成中微子和超高能伽马射线流强可能显著超过混合质量宇宙线的多信使信号。此外,若$E_\text{max}^\text{p}$高于GZK极限,我们预测会存在大量EeV能量以上的超高能中微子流强,这在其他超高能宇宙线起源情形中是不存在的。我们阐述了这些超高能质子、中微子和光子流强为未来多信使观测带来的启示与机遇。

英文摘要:

Over the last decade, observations have shown that the mean mass of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) increases progressively toward the highest energies. However, the precise composition is still unknown, and several theoretical studies hint at the existence of a subdominant proton component up to the highest energies. Motivated by the exciting prospect of performing charged-particle astronomy with ultra-high-energy (UHE) protons we quantify the level of UHE-proton flux that is compatible with present multimessenger observations and the associated fluxes of neutral messengers produced in the interactions of the protons. We study this scenario with numerical simulations of two independent populations of extragalactic sources and perform a fit to the combined UHECR energy spectrum and composition observables, constrained by diffuse gamma-ray and neutrino observations. We find that up to of order $10\%$ of the cosmic rays at the highest energies can be UHE protons, although the result depends critically on the selected hadronic interaction model for the air showers. Depending on the maximum proton energy ($E_\text{max}^\text{p}$) and the redshift evolution of sources, the associated flux of cosmogenic neutrinos and UHE gamma rays can significantly exceed the multimessenger signal of the mixed-mass cosmic rays. Moreover, if $E_\text{max}^\text{p}$ is above the GZK limit, we predict a large flux of UHE neutrinos above EeV energies that is absent in alternate scenarios for the origin of UHECRs. We present the implications and opportunities afforded by these UHE proton, neutrino and photon fluxes for future multimessenger observations.

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