Deep shower interpretation of the cosmic ray events observed in excess of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin energy
arXiv:astro-ph/0606742 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.74.103001
Abstract
We consider the possibility that the ultra-high-energy cosmic ray flux has a small component of exotic particles which create showers much deeper in the atmosphere than ordinary hadronic primaries. It is shown that applying the conventional AGASA/HiRes/Auger data analysis procedures to such exotic events results in large systematic biases in the energy spectrum measurement. SubGZK exotic showers may be mis-reconstructed with much higher energies and mimick superGZK events. Alternatively, superGZK exotic showers may elude detection by conventional fluorescence analysis techniques.
arXiv comment22 pages, 5 figures
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