Pulsars, supernovae, and ultrahigh energy cosmic rays
Abstract
The acceleration of ultrahigh energy nuclei in fast spinning newborn pulsars can explain the observed spectrum of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and the trend towards heavier nuclei for energies above 10^{19} eV as indicated by air shower studies reported by the Auger Observatory. By assuming a normal distribution of pulsar birth periods centered at 300 ms, we show that the contribution of extragalactic pulsar births to the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray spectrum naturally gives rise to a contribution to very high energy cosmic rays (VHECRs, between 10^{16} and 10^{18} eV) by Galactic pulsar births. The required injected composition to fit the observed spectrum depends on the absolute energy scale, differing considerably between the energy scale used by Auger and that used by the Telescope Array. Depending on the composition of the cosmic rays that escape the supernova remnant and the diffusion behavior of VHECRs in the Galaxy, the contribution of Galactic pulsar births can also bridge the gap between predictions for cosmic ray acceleration in supernova remnants and the observed spectrum below the ankle. Fast spinning newborn pulsars that could produce UHECRs would be born in supernovae that could present interesting specific radiative features, due to the interaction of the pulsar wind with the surrounding ejecta. The resulting supernova lightcurves could present a high luminosity plateau over a few years, and a bright X-ray and gamma-ray peak around one or two years after the onset of the explosion. If such signatures were observed, they could have important implications both for UHECR astrophysics and for the understanding of core-collapse supernovae.
- Publication:
-
SF2A-2012: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012sf2a.conf..583K
- Keywords:
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- ultrahigh energy cosmic rays;
- neutron star;
- pulsar;
- supernova