Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· arXiv e-print (arXiv:0911.1776)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (2) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Radio-quiet active galactic nuclei as possible sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays
Authors:
Pe'Er, Asaf; Murase, Kohta; Mészáros, Peter
Affiliation:
AA(Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA), AB(Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan), AC(Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics; Department of Physics; Center for Particle Astrophysics; Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA)
Publication:
Physical Review D, vol. 80, Issue 12, id. 123018 (PhRvD Homepage)
Publication Date:
12/2009
Origin:
APS
PACS Keywords:
Cosmic rays, Neutrino, muon, pion, and other elementary particles; cosmic rays, Energetic particles, Active and peculiar galaxies and related systems
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 2009: The American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.80.123018
Bibliographic Code:
2009PhRvD..80l3018P

Abstract

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have been one of the most widely discussed sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The recent results of the Pierre Auger observatory have indicated a possible composition change of UHECRs above ˜1018.5eV toward heavy nuclei. We show here that if indeed UHECRs are largely heavy nuclei, then nearby radio-quiet AGNs can also be viable sources of UHECRs. We derive constraints on the acceleration sites which enable acceleration of UHECRs to 1020eV without suffering losses. We show that the acceleration of UHECRs and the survival of energetic heavy nuclei are possible in the parsec-scale weak jets that are typically observed in these objects, the main energy loss channel being photodisintegration. On this scale, energy dissipation by shock waves resulting from interactions inside a jet or of the jet with surrounding material are expected, which may accelerate the particles up to very high energies. We discuss the possible contribution of radio-quiet AGNs to the observed UHECR flux, and show that the required energy production rate in UHECRs by a single object could be as low as ≈3×1039ergs-1, which is less than a percent of the bolometric luminosity, and thus energetically consistent. We discuss consequences of this model, the main one being the difficulty in detecting energetic secondaries (γ-rays and neutrinos) from the same sources.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
   

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints