Conveners
High Energy Cosmic Rays: - 2
- Raffaella Bonino (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
The Pierre Auger Observatory has conducted measurements of the energy spectrum and mass composition of cosmic rays using different methods. Utilizing both surface and fluorescence detectors (FD and SD), the Observatory provides unprecedented precision in understanding these particles. While primarily designed to measure ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, the FD's high-elevation telescopes and the...
Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) provide a unique window into the most energetic processes in the universe, yet their origins remain unknown. The near-isotropic distribution of arrival directions observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory suggests that a dominant Galactic source is unlikely, prompting investigations into nearby galaxy groups and clusters as potential origins of UHECRs....
Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) are rare nuclei that collides in the atmosphere with energy larger than $10^{18}$ eV producing a shower cascade made by bilions of particles. An estimation of the shower energy with a good control of the systematic uncertainties is attained with the fluorescence detector technique. The two largest observatories built to date, the Pierre Auger observatory...
Measurements of anisotropies in the arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are crucial to pinpoint their sources, which are yet to be discovered. A dipolar anisotropy in right ascension above 8 EeV has been detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory with a significance of $6.9 \sigma$. The direction of the dipole suggests an extragalactic origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays...
We discuss the connection of the Pierre Auger Observatory data with a large class of dark matter models based on the early-universe generation of super-heavy particles, their role in the solution of the dark matter problem, highlighting the remarkable constraining capabilities of the Auger observations.
