In this work we present the interpretation of the energy spectrum and mass composition data as measured by the Pierre Auger Collaboration above 6 × 1017 eV. We use an astrophysical model with two extragalactic source populations to model the hardening of the cosmic-ray flux at around 5 × 1018 eV (the so-called “ankle” feature) as a transition between these two components. We find our data to be well reproduced if sources above the ankle emit a mixed composition with a hard spectrum and a low rigidity cutoff. The component below the ankle is required to have a very soft spectrum and a mix of protons and intermediate-mass nuclei. The origin of this intermediate-mass component is not well constrained and it could originate from either Galactic or extragalactic sources.
To the aim of evaluating our capability to constrain astrophysical models, we discuss the impact on the fit results of the main experimental systematic uncertainties and of the assumptions about quantities affecting the air shower development as well as the propagation and redshift distribution of injected ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs).
The origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), particles from outer space with energies 𝐸 ≥ 1 EeV, is still unknown, though the near-isotropy of their arrival direction distribution excludes a dominant Galactic contribution, and interactions with background photons prevent them from travelling cosmologically large distances. This suggests that their sources must be searched for in nearby galaxy groups and clusters. Deflections by intergalactic and Galactic magnetic fields are expected to hinder such searches but not preclude them altogether. So far, the only anisotropy detected with statistical significance ≥ 5𝜎 is a modulation in right ascension in the data from the Pierre Auger Observatory at 𝐸 ≥ 8 EeV interpretable as a 7% dipole moment. Various hints for higher-energy, smaller-scale anisotropies have been reported. UHECR arrival direction data from both the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array experiment have been searched for anisotropies by a working group with members from both collaborations; combining the two datasets requires a cross-calibration procedure due to the different systematic uncertainties on energy measurements but allows us to perform analyses that are less model-dependent than what can be done with partial sky coverage. We report a significant dipole pointing away from the Galactic Center and a ∼4.6𝜎 anisotropy found when comparing the directions of UHECRs with a catalog of starburst galaxies.
The observation of primary photons with energies around 10 16 eV would be particularly interesting after the discovery of Galactic gamma-ray sources with spectra extending into the PeV range. Since photons are connected to the acceleration of charged particles, searches for photons enhance the multi-messenger understanding of cosmic-ray sources as well as of transient astrophysical phenomena, while offering wealthy connections to neutrino astronomy and dark matter. Additionally, diffuse photon fluxes are expected from cosmic-ray interactions with Galactic matter and background radiation fields. Previously, the energy domain between 1 PeV and 200 PeV was only explored from the Northern Hemisphere. The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest astroparticle experiment in operation and, thanks to its location, has a sizable exposure to the Southern sky, including the Galactic center region. In this contribution, we present the first search for photons from the Southern hemisphere between 50 and 200 PeV exploiting the Auger data acquired during ∼ 4 yr of operation. We describe the method to discriminate photons against the dominating hadronic background; it is based on the measurements of air showers taken with the low-energy extension of the Pierre Auger Observatory composed by 19 water-Cherenkov detectors spanning ∼ 2 km 2 and an Underground Muon Detector. The search for a diffuse flux of photons is presented and its results are interpreted according to theoretical model predictions. This study extends the range of Auger photon searches to almost four decades in energy.
In this work, we present an estimate of the cosmic-ray mass composition from the distributions of the depth of the shower maximum (𝑋 max ) measured by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We discuss the sensitivity of the mass composition measurements to the uncertainties in the properties of the hadronic interactions, particularly in the predictions of the particle interaction cross-sections. For this purpose, we adjust the fractions of cosmic-ray mass groups to fit the data with 𝑋 max distributions from air shower simulations. We modify the protonproton cross-sections at ultra-high energies, and the corresponding air shower simulations with rescaled nucleus-air cross-sections are obtained via Glauber theory. We compare the energydependent composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays obtained for the different extrapolations of the proton-proton cross-sections from low-energy accelerator data.
The measurements by the Pierre Auger Observatory of the energy spectrum and mass composition of cosmic rays can be interpreted assuming the presence of two extragalactic source populations, one dominating the flux at energies above a few EeV and the other below. To fit the data ignoring magnetic field effects, the high-energy population needs to accelerate a mixture of nuclei with very hard spectra, at odds with the approximate 𝐸 −2 shape expected from diffusive shock acceleration. The presence of turbulent extragalactic magnetic fields in the region between the closest sources and the Earth can significantly modify the observed CR spectrum with respect to that emitted by the sources, reducing the flux of low-rigidity particles that reach the Earth. We here take into account this magnetic horizon effect in the combined fit of the spectrum and shower depth distributions, exploring the possibility that a spectrum for the high-energy population sources with a shape closer to 𝐸 −2 be able to explain the observations. We find that a large inter-source separation 𝑑 s and a large magnetic field RMS amplitude within the Local Supercluster region, such that 𝐵 rms ≃ 100 nG (40 Mpc/𝑑 s ) √︁ 25 kpc/𝐿 coh , are needed to interpret the data within this scenario, where 𝐿 coh is the magnetic field coherence length.
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