Energy Spectrum of Fast Second Order Fermi Accelerators as Sources of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays

Abstract

Stochastic acceleration of cosmic rays in second order Fermi processes is usually considered too slow to reach ultra-high energies, except in specific cases. In this paper we present the energy spectrum obtained from second order Fermi acceleration in highly turbulent magnetic fields as e.g.\ found in the outskirts of AGN jets in situations where it can be sufficiently fast to accelerate particles to the highest observed energies. We parametrize the resulting non-power-law spectra and show that these can describe the cosmic ray energy spectrum and mass-composition data at the highest energies if propagation effects are taken into account.

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• Constraining models for the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with a novel combined analysis of arrival directions, spectrum, and composition data measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory
• CRPropa - A Toolbox for Cosmic Ray Simulations