The nature of the highest energy cosmic rays

Abstract

Ultra high energy gamma rays produce electron--positron pairs in interactions on the geomagnetic field. The pair electrons suffer magnetic bremsstrahlung and the energy of the primary gamma ray is shared by a bunch of lower energy secondaries. These processes reflect the structure of the geomagnetic field and cause experimentally observable effects. The study of these effects with future giant air shower arrays can identify the nature of the highest energy cosmic rays as either gamma-rays or nuclei.

arXiv comment15 pages of RevTeX plus 6 postscript figures, tarred, gzipped and uuencoded. Subm. to Physical Review D

References in corpus (6)

• COSMOLOGICAL GAMMA RAY BURSTS AND THE HIGHEST ENERGY COSMIC RAYS
• On the acceleration of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays in Gamma Ray Bursts
• Detection of a Cosmic Ray with Measured Energy Well Beyond the Expected Spectral Cutoff due to Cosmic Microwave Radiation
• Possible association of ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray events with strong gamma-ray bursts
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Cited by in corpus (20)

• Small-scale anisotropy of cosmic rays above 10^19eV observed with the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array
• Suppression of Bremsstrahlung and Pair Production due to Environmental Factors
• Extremely high energy cosmic rays from relic particle decays
• Upper limit on the cosmic-ray photon flux above 10^19 eV using the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• An upper limit to the photon fraction in cosmic rays above 10^19 eV from the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Search for ultra-high energy photons using air showers
• Hybrid simulations of extensive air showers
• Simulation of Ultra-High Energy Photon Propagation in the Geomagnetic Field
• The highest-energy cosmic rays
• $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ Pair Production from 10 GeV to 10 ZeV
• Influence of the LPM effect and dielectric suppression on particle air showers
• Primary Particle Type of the Most Energetic Fly's Eye Air Shower
• Ultra-High Energy Gamma Rays in Geomagnetic Field and Atmosphere
• Characteristics of geomagnetic cascading of ultra-high energy photons at the southern and northern sites of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Simulation of ultra-high energy photon propagation with PRESHOWER 2.0
• Sensitivity of the Auger Observatory to ultra high energy photon composition through inclined showers
• Search for ultra-high energy photons through preshower effect with gamma-ray telescopes: Study of CTA-North efficiency
• An experimental foundation for electromagnetic shower formation in the geomagnetic field
• Declination dependence of the cosmic-ray flux at extreme energies
• Discrepancies in the Monte Carlo simulations of propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic-ray photons in the geomagnetic field