On the Origin of Highest Energy Cosmic Rays
- 1 June 1990
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Progress of Theoretical Physics
- Vol. 83 (6) , 1071-1075
- https://doi.org/10.1143/ptp.83.1071
Abstract
A possible mechanism of the acceleration of highest energy cosmic rays is proposed. Mildly relativistic shocks in radio galaxies, especialy hot spots in radio lobes, are shown to be able to accelerate protons up to 1020eV. To avoid energy losses through collisions with radio photons, the size and distance of the acceleration region from the nucleus must be larger than about 100pc. Required cosmic ray luminosity for each radio galaxy is an order of 1041-42erg·s-1, which is a modest fraction of the total luminosity. Anisotropy in the arrival direction should be observable towards nearby radio galaxies.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- The Origin of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic RaysAnnual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1984