Heavy nuclei at the end of the cosmic ray spectrum

We provide an account of the possible acceleration of iron nuclei up to energies 300 EeV in the nearby, metally rich starburst galaxy NGC 253. It is suggested that particles can escape from the nuclear region with energies of ~10<sup>15</sup> eV and can then be reaccelerated at the termi...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Anchordoqui, Luis Alfredo, Romero, Gustavo Esteban, Combi, Jorge Ariel
Formato: Articulo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 1999
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/122767
Aporte de:
Descripción
Sumario:We provide an account of the possible acceleration of iron nuclei up to energies 300 EeV in the nearby, metally rich starburst galaxy NGC 253. It is suggested that particles can escape from the nuclear region with energies of ~10<sup>15</sup> eV and can then be reaccelerated at the terminal shock of the galactic superwind generated by the starburst, avoiding the photodisintegration expected if the nuclei were accelerated in the central region of high photon density. We have also made estimates of the expected arrival spectrum, which displays a strong dependence on the energy cutoff at the source.