Ultra high-energy cosmic rays from beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min horizon

Abstract

Ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic rays (CRs) of energies ∼ (10 18 − 10 20 ) eV, accelerated in violent astrophysical environments, interact with cosmic background radiation fields via photo-hadronic processes, leading to strong attenuation. Typically, the Universe would become 'opaque' to UHE CRs after several tens of Mpc, setting the boundary of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min (GZK) horizon. In this work, we investigate the contribution of sources beyond the conventional GZK horizon to the UHE CR flux observed on Earth, when photo-spallation of the heavy nuclear CRs is taken into account. We demonstrate this contribution is substantial, despite the strong attenuation of UHE CRs. A significant consequence is the emergence of an isotropic background component in the observed flux of UHE CRs, coexisting with the anisotropic foreground component that are associated with nearby sources. Multi-particle CR horizons, which evolve over redshift, are determined by the CR nuclear composition. Thus, they are dependent on the source populations and source evolutionary histories.