On the Measurement of the Helicity of Intergalactic Magnetic Fields Using Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays

Abstract

The origin of the first magnetic fields in the Universe is a standing problem in cosmology. Intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs) may be an untapped window to the primeval Universe, providing further constrains on magnetogenesis. We demonstrate the feasibility of using ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) to constrain the helicity of IGMFs by performing simulations of cosmic-ray propagation in simple magnetic field configurations. We show that the first harmonic moments of the arrival distribution of UHECRs may be used to measure the absolute value of the helicity and its sign.

25 pages, 11 figures; published version

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Cited by in corpus (5)

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• CRPropa 3.2 -- an advanced framework for high-energy particle propagation in extragalactic and galactic spaces
• Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
• The Gamma-Ray Window to Intergalactic Magnetism
• Dwarf galaxies as a probe of a primordially magnetized Universe