The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropy in the dis- tribution of arrival directions of the cosmic rays with energies E > Eth = 5.5×10^19 eV. These show a correlation with the distribution of nearby extragalactic objects, including an appar- ent excess around the direction of Centaurus A. If the particles responsible for these excesses at E > Eth are heavy nuclei with charge Z, the proton component of the sources should lead to excesses in the same regions at energies E/Z. We here report the lack of anisotropies in these directions at energies above Eth/Z (for illustrative values of Z = 6, 13, 26). If the anisotropies above Eth are due to nuclei with charge Z, and under reasonable assumptions about the acceleration process, these observations imply stringent constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the lower energies.

Anisotropy and chemical compositionof ultra-high energy cosmic rays usingarrival directions measured by thePierre Auger Observatory

COLUCCIA, MARIA RITA;DE MITRI, Ivan;MARSELLA, GIOVANNI;MARTELLO, Daniele;PERRONE, Lorenzo;
2011-01-01

Abstract

The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropy in the dis- tribution of arrival directions of the cosmic rays with energies E > Eth = 5.5×10^19 eV. These show a correlation with the distribution of nearby extragalactic objects, including an appar- ent excess around the direction of Centaurus A. If the particles responsible for these excesses at E > Eth are heavy nuclei with charge Z, the proton component of the sources should lead to excesses in the same regions at energies E/Z. We here report the lack of anisotropies in these directions at energies above Eth/Z (for illustrative values of Z = 6, 13, 26). If the anisotropies above Eth are due to nuclei with charge Z, and under reasonable assumptions about the acceleration process, these observations imply stringent constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the lower energies.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11587/361900
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact