UHECR observations and lensing in the magnetic field of the Virgo cluster
arXiv:0809.5055 · doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2009/01/033
Abstract
We discuss how lensing by magnetic fields in galaxy clusters affects ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHECR) observations. As specific example, we use Virgo together with the cluster magnetic fields obtained earlier in a constrained simulation of structure formation including MHD processes. We find that, if M87 is the single source of UHECRs from Virgo, the emitted flux is strongly anisotropic in the most interesting energy range, (50-100)EeV, and differs from the average value by a factor five or more for a significant fraction of observers. Since magnetic lensing is energy dependent, the external energy spectrum as seen by different observers varies strongly too. These anisotropies are averaged out in the case that all active galactic nuclei in Virgo emit UHECRs. In both cases, the anisotropies of the emitted UHECR flux may introduce an important bias in the interpretation of UHECR data like, e.g., the determination of the source density n_s and the source energy spectrum of UHECRs.
12 pages, 15 eps figures; v2: extended discussion of modifications in external energy spectrum, matches version to be published
References in corpus (15)
- Correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic objects
- First Observation of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin Suppression
- Observation of the suppression of the flux of cosmic rays above 4x10^19eV
- Correlation of the highest-energy cosmic rays with the positions of nearby active galactic nuclei
- Observations of extended radio emission in clusters
- The Inner Jet of the Radio Galaxy M87
- Search for Correlations between HiRes Stereo Events and Active Galactic Nuclei
- Cosmological MHD simulation of a cooling flow cluster
- Comment on "Correlation of the Highest-Energy Cosmic Rays with Nearby Extragalactic Objects"
- Clustering properties of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and the search for their astrophysical sources
- A global autocorrelation study after the first Auger data: impact on the number density of UHECR sources
- Studies of clustering in the arrival directions of cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory above 10 EeV
- First hints of large scale structures in the ultra-high energy sky?
- Ultra-high energy cosmic rays from radio galaxies revisited
- Astrophysical interpretation of the medium scale clustering in the ultra-high energy sky
Cited by in corpus (18)
- Cosmological Magnetic Fields: Their Generation, Evolution and Observation
- Sensitivity of gamma-ray telescopes for detection of magnetic fields in intergalactic medium
- Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
- Ultrahigh Energy Nuclei in the Turbulent Galactic Magnetic Field
- A Monte Carlo Bayesian Search for the Plausible Source of the Telescope Array Hotspot
- Ultrahigh Energy Nuclei in the Galactic Magnetic Field
- Does Galactic Magnetic Field Disturb the Correlation of the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays with their Sources?
- Impact of Galaxy Clusters on UHECR propagation
- Search for single sources of ultra high energy cosmic rays on the sky
- Method to Look for Imprints of Ultrahigh Energy Nuclei Sources
- Anisotropies of Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Rays Dominated by a Single Source in the Presence of Deflections
- Cosmic Magnetic Lenses
- Magnetically Induced Anisotropies in the Arrival Directions of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays from Nearby Radio Galaxies
- Search for ultra high energy cosmic rays from radiogalaxy Virgo A
- Caustic-like Structures in UHECR Flux after Propagation in Turbulent Intergalactic Magnetic Fields
- Nearby active galactic nuclei and starburst galaxies as sources of the measured UHECRs anisotropy signal
- Strong gravitational lensing of blazar gamma-radiation and intergalactic magnetic fields
- Search for Nuclei Sources in the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Data