On the origins of the highest energy cosmic rays

29 Jun 2010, 16:30
1h
Atrium (Fermilab)

Atrium

Fermilab

PO Box 500 Batavia, IL 60510
Board: 16
Poster Anisotropy Poster Session I

Speaker

Ms Laura Watson (Imperial College London)

Description

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) appear to be the most plausible source of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), yet there is currently no conclusive evidence for this hypothesis. Correlation between the arrival directions of some UHECRs and the positions of nearby AGNs has been reported for a sample of 27 UHECRs detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO 2007), although analyses of larger samples find a weaker signal (PAO 2010). Here we present a fully Bayesian analysis of the original PAO data, which makes use of more of the available information, and find, with 3 sigma confidence, that a subset of observed UHECRs originate from known AGNs listed in the Veron-Cetty and Veron (2006) AGN catalogue. We will extend our analysis to more homogeneous AGN catalogues such as the Swift BAT sample.
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Primary author

Ms Laura Watson (Imperial College London)

Co-authors

Prof. Andrew Jaffe (Imperial College London) Dr Daniel Mortlock (Imperial College London)

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