CRT: A numerical tool for propagating ultra-high energy cosmic rays through Galactic magnetic field models

Abstract

Deflection of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) by the Galactic magnetic field (GMF) may be sufficiently strong to hinder identification of the UHECR source distribution. A common method for determining the effect of GMF models on source identification efforts is backtracking cosmic rays. We present the public numerical tool CRT for propagating charged particles through Galactic magnetic field models by numerically integrating the relativistic equation of motion. It is capable of both forward- and back-tracking particles with varying compositions through pre-defined and custom user-created magnetic fields. These particles are injected from various types of sources specified and distributed according to the user. Here, we present a description of some source and magnetic field model implementations, as well as validation of the integration routines.

12 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Radio observational constraints on Galactic 3D-emission models
• Displacement of the Sun from the Galactic Plane
• Constraining models of the large scale Galactic magnetic field with WMAP5 polarization data and extragalactic Rotation Measure sources
• CRPropa: A Numerical Tool for the Propagation of UHE Cosmic Rays, Gamma-rays and Neutrinos