Ultra high energy cosmic rays from super-heavy dark matter in the context of large exposure observatories

Abstract

The origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs, E > 10 18 eV) is still uncertain. However, great progress has been achieved due to the data taken by The Pierre Auger and Telescope Array observatories. The UHECR flux presents two main features, a hardening of the spectrum known as the ankle and a suppression at higher energies. The experimental data suggest that above the ankle the UHECRs flux is dominated by an extragalactic component of astrophysical origin. However, a minority component of exotic origin that dominates the flux beyond the suppression is still compatible with current data. Therefore, there exist the possibility that part of the UHECR flux originates from the decay of super-heavy dark matter particles clustered in the halos of the galaxies. In these scenarios the main contribution comes from the halo of our galaxy. In this article the possibility of identifying these scenarios in the context of the future very large exposure cosmic rays observatories is studied. It is worth mentioning that the contribution of the extragalactic halos located in the nearby universe is also included in these studies.

Superheavy dark matter in $$R+R^2$$ cosmology with conformal anomaly

“…Comparing this result with the data presented in Ref. [29] we can conclude that the flux of the UHECR produced in the decay of XX bound states would agree with the data if f ∼ 10 −11 .…”

Cosmic-Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory

“…In general, one can distinguish two qualitatively different approaches in unveiling the physics of UHECRs: theoretical models assuming interactions of exotic super-heavy matter (including extra dimensions, Lorentz invariance violation, cosmic strings, existence of new particles etc. [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85]) and acceleration scenarios describing processes, in which the particles are accelerated by a particular astrophysical object (shocks in relativistic plasma jets, unipolar induction mechanisms, second-order Fermi acceleration, etc.). Acceleration scenarios rely on the existence of powerful astrophysical sources with available energy that is sufficient for the energy transfer from these objects to cosmic-ray particles.…”

Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory

“…In general, one can distinguish two qualitatively different approaches in unveiling the physics of UHECRs: theoretical models assuming interactions of exotic super-heavy matter (including extra dimensions, Lorentz invariance violation, cosmic strings, existence of new particles etc [69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86]) and acceleration scenarios describing processes, in which the particles are accelerated by a particular 1 The current experimental data suggests an extragalactic origin for UHECRs with energies above the GZK cutoff [63]. astrophysical object (shocks in relativistic plasma jets, unipolar induction mechanisms, second-order Fermi acceleration, etc.).…”