Magnetic Deflections of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays from Centaurus A

Abstract

We present the results of a study that simulates trajectories of ultra-high energy cosmic rays from Centaurus A to Earth, for particle rigidities from $E/Z=2$ EV to 100 EV, i.e., covering the possibility of primary particles as heavy as Fe nuclei with energies exceeding 50 EeV. The Galactic magnetic field is modeled using the recent work of Jansson and Farrar (JF12) which fitted its parameters to match extragalactic Faraday rotation measures and WMAP7 synchrotron emission maps. We include the random component of the GMF using the JF12 3D model for $B_{\mathrm{rand}}(\vec{r})$ and explore the impact of different random realizations, coherence length and other features on cosmic ray deflections. Gross aspects of the arrival direction distribution such as mean deflection and the RMS dispersion depend mainly on rigidity and differ relatively little from one realization to another. However different realizations exhibit non-trivial substructure whose specific features vary considerably from one realization to another, especially for lower rigidities. At the lowest rigidity of 2 EV, the distribution is broad enough that it might be compatible with a scenario in which Cen A is the principle source of all UHECRs. No attempt is made here to formulate a robust test of this possibility, although some challenges to such a scenario are noted.

arXiv comment20 pages, 9 figures, 1 table; submitted to Astroparticle Physics

References in corpus (29)

• HEALPix -- a Framework for High Resolution Discretization, and Fast Analysis of Data Distributed on the Sphere
• A New Model of the Galactic Magnetic Field
• Indications of Intermediate-Scale Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays with Energy Greater Than 57 EeV in the Northern Sky Measured with the Surface Detector of the Telescope Array Experiment
• Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter
• The Galactic Magnetic Field
• Centaurus A - NGC 5128
• The Distance to NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)
• Seven-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Planets and Celestial Calibration Sources
• Upper limit on the cosmic-ray photon fraction at EeV energies from the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Bayesian reconstruction of the cosmological large-scale structure: methodology, inverse algorithms and numerical optimization
• High-energy Particle Acceleration and Production of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays in the Giant Lobes of Centaurus A
• Mapping deflections of extragalactic Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays in magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the Local Universe
• Lensing of ultra-high energy cosmic rays in turbulent magnetic fields
• High energy radiation from Centaurus A
• The radio continuum structure of Centaurus A at 1.4 GHz
• On the Possible Association of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays with Nearby Active Galaxies
• Ultrahigh Energy Nuclei in the Turbulent Galactic Magnetic Field
• Cen A as TeV gamma-ray and possible UHE cosmic-ray source
• Light Nuclei solving Auger puzzles. The Cen-A imprint
• The Galactic Magnetic Field and Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic Ray Deflections
• Galactic magnetic deflections and Centaurus A as a UHECR source
• On the interpretation of the cosmic-ray anisotropy at ultra-high energies
• Recovering the observed B/C ratio in a dynamic spiral-armed cosmic ray model
• CRT: A numerical tool for propagating ultra-high energy cosmic rays through Galactic magnetic field models
• The Magnetic Field in Galaxies, Galaxy Clusters, and the InterGalactic Space
• Deducing the Source of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays
• Coherent and random UHECR Spectroscopy of Lightest Nuclei along CenA: Shadows on GZK Tau Neutrinos spread in a near sky and time
• Ultra-high energy cosmic rays from radio galaxies revisited
• Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays Detected by Auger and AGASA:Corrections for Galactic Magnetic Field Deflections, Source Populations, and Arguments for Multiple-Components

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Features of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays above $2.5\times 10^{18}$ eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
• New constraints on modelling the random magnetic field of the MW
• Implications of Strong Intergalactic Magnetic Fields for Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic-Ray Astronomy
• Deflections of UHECRs in the Galactic magnetic field
• The Nuclear Window to the Extragalactic Universe
• Angular Power Spectra with Finite Counts
• Anisotropies of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays in a scenario with nearby sources
• Near-future discovery of point sources of ultra-high-energy neutrinos
• Anisotropies of Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Rays Dominated by a Single Source in the Presence of Deflections
• High-Energy Gamma Rays and Neutrinos from Nearby Radio Galaxies
• Deflections of ultra-high energy cosmic rays by the Milky Way magnetic field: how well can they be corrected?
• Origins of Extragalactic Cosmic Ray Nuclei by Contracting Alignment Patterns induced in the Galactic Magnetic Field
• Impact of Galactic magnetic field modelling on searches of point sources via UHECR-Neutrino correlations
• Case for Centaurus A as the main source of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays
• A Bayesian analysis of the 69 highest energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Modelling Cosmic Rays Flux with Pierre Auger and Telescope Array Data in $\mathbf{f}(\mathbf{R})$ and $\mathbf{f}(\mathbf{Q})$ Theories of Gravity
• Displacement of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray source images by the intergalactic magnetic field: the cases of Cen A and M83