Aim. We discuss neutrino and cosmic ray emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the injection of nuclei, where we take into account that a nuclear cascade from photodisintegration can fully ...develop in the source. Our main objective is to test whether recent results from the IceCube and the Pierre Auger Observatory can be accommodated within the paradigm that GRBs are the sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). Methods. We simulate this scenario in a combined source-propagation model. While our key results are obtained using an internal shock model of the source, we discuss how the secondary emission from a GRB shell can be interpreted in terms of other astrophysical models. Results. We demonstrate that the expected neutrino flux from GRBs weakly depends on the injection composition for the same injection spectra and luminosities, which implies that prompt neutrinos from GRBs can efficiently test the GRB-UHECR paradigm even if the UHECRs are nuclei. We show that the UHECR spectrum and composition, as measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory, can be self-consistently reproduced. In an attempt to describe the energy range including the ankle, we find tension with the IceCube bounds from the GRB stacking analyses. In an alternative scenario, where only the UHECRs beyond the ankle originate from GRBs, the requirement for a joint description of cosmic ray and neutrino observations favors lower luminosities, which does not correspond to the typical expectation from γ-ray observations.
ABSTRACT
We scrutinize the paradigm that conventional long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the dominant source of the ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) within the internal shock scenario by ...describing UHECR spectrum and composition and by studying the predicted (source and cosmogenic) neutrino fluxes. Since it has been demonstrated that the stacking searches for astrophysical GRB neutrinos strongly constrain the parameter space in single-zone models, we focus on the dynamics of multiple collisions for which different messengers are expected to come from different regions of the same object. We propose a model that can describe both stochastic and deterministic engines, which we study in a systematic way. We find that GRBs can indeed describe the UHECRs for a wide range of different model assumptions with comparable quality albeit with the previously known problematic energy requirements; the heavy mass fraction at injection is found to be larger than 70 per cent ($95 {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ CL). We demonstrate that the post-dicted (from UHECR data) neutrino fluxes from sources and UHECR propagation are indeed below the current sensitivities but will be reached by the next generation of experiments. We finally critically review the required source energetics with the specific examples found in this study.
► Analytical study of the propagation of UHE protons with sources taken from the VCV catalog of AGN, as follows from the recent results on anisotropy published by the Auger collaboration. ► Study of ...the spectral features of UHECR at the highest energies as a consequence of the local distribution of sources. ► Characterization of the possible UHECR sources using the observed spectral features of the fluxes.
The recent results of the Pierre Auger Observatory on the possible correlation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays events and several nearby discrete sources could be the starting point of a new era with charged particles astronomy. In this paper we introduce a simple model to determine the effects of any local distribution of sources on the expected flux. We consider two populations of sources: faraway sources uniformly distributed and local point sources. We study the effects on the expected flux of the local distribution of sources, referring also to the set of astrophysical objects whose correlation with the Auger events is experimentally claimed.
We use an updated version of SimProp, a Monte Carlo simulation scheme for the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, to compute cosmogenic neutrino fluxes expected on Earth in various ...scenarios. These fluxes are compared with the newly detected IceCube events at PeV energies and with recent experimental limits at EeV energies of the Pierre Auger Observatory. This comparison allows us to draw some interesting conclusions about the source models for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We will show how the available experimental observations are almost at the level of constraining such models, mainly in terms of the injected chemical composition and cosmological evolution of sources. The results presented here will also be important in the evaluation of the discovery capabilities of the future planned ultra-high energy cosmic ray and neutrino observatories.
We investigate non-thermal electron and nuclei energy losses within the binary neutron star merger remnant produced by the event GW170817. The lack of a cooling feature within the detected ...synchrotron emission from the source is used to constrain the magnetic field at the mG level, assuming that this emission is electron synchrotron in origin, and that the accelerated spectrum in the electrons follows the form dN/dEe∝Ee−2. The level of subsequent gamma-ray emission from the source is demonstrated to provide a further constraint on the source magnetic field strength. We also put forward alternative strong ( ∼ G) magnetic field scenarios able to support this emission. For such stronger fields, the photo-disintegration of non-thermal nuclei within the source is considered, and a bottleneck period of ∼ 5–30 days is found when this process peaks. We find that this class of source is in principle able to support the population of cosmic rays detected at Earth below the “ankle”.
Gamma ray bursts are being searched in many ground based experiments detecting the high energy component (GeV–TeV energy range) of the photon bursts. In this paper, fluorescence detectors are ...considered as possible candidate devices for these searches. It is shown that GRB photons induce fluorescence emission of UV photons on a wide range of their spectrum. The induced fluorescence flux is dominated by GRB photons from 0.1 to about 100
MeV and, once the extinction through the atmosphere is taken into account, it is distributed over a wide angular region. This flux can be detected through a monitor of the diffuse photon flux, provided that its maximum value exceeds a threshold value, that is primarily determined by the sky brightness above the detector. The feasibility of this search and the expected rates are discussed on the basis of the current GRB observations. The basic requirements for fluorescence detectors to search for GRB signals are finally discussed. It is shown that these requirements are only partially fulfilled by the existing fluorescence detectors and therefore their GRB detection capability turns out to be marginal.
Abstract We present a measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum above 100 PeV using the part of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory that has a spacing of 750 m. An inflection of the ...spectrum is observed, confirming the presence of the so-called second-knee feature. The spectrum is then combined with that of the 1500 m array to produce a single measurement of the flux, linking this spectral feature with the three additional breaks at the highest energies. The combined spectrum, with an energy scale set calorimetrically via fluorescence telescopes and using a single detector type, results in the most statistically and systematically precise measurement of spectral breaks yet obtained. These measurements are critical for furthering our understanding of the highest energy cosmic rays.
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