Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Szabelski, J
• Wibig, T
• Wolfendale, A.W

Titel

Cosmic rays of the highest energies: the case for extragalactic heavy nuclei

Ist Teil von

• Astroparticle physics, 2002-05, Vol.17 (2), p.125-131

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2002

Quelle

ScienceDirect Pay Per View(PPV) Titles

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• An analysis has been made of the world's data on very large extensive air showers with the object of deriving a `best-fit' primary energy spectrum. It is reassuring that when the various, independently measured, spectra are standardised, using as a datum the well-known `dip' in the spectrum at about 3×10 18 eV, and a correction for inferred `noise', the measurements are all consistent. The best-fit spectrum bears out the well-known problem with the lack of observation of a feature (a cut-off) due to interactions of the particles, commonly assumed to be extra-galactic protons, with the cosmic microwave background. However, we contend that a model involving extragalactic nuclei [J. Phys. A 8 (1975) 1518; Astrophys. J. 205 (1976) 638; Astrophys. J. 512 (1999) 521] is satisfactory, although it is premature to be too prescriptive, due to the shortage of astronomical data.