The GZK Feature in the Spectrum of UHECRs: What is it Telling Us?

dc.creatorDe Marco, Daniel
dc.creatorBlasi, Pasquale
dc.creatorOlinto, Angela V.
dc.date2003-05-19
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T02:08:32Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T02:08:32Z
dc.descriptionWe developed a numerical simulation of the propagation of UHECR in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and we used it to determine the significance of the GZK feature in the spectrum of UHECR measured by AGASA and HiRes. We find that these two experiments are best fit by two different injection spectra in the region below 10^20 eV and that the error bars around the GZK feature are dominated by fluctuations which leave a determination of the GZK feature not attainable at present. In addition the comparison of the spectra of AGASA and HiRes suggests the presence of about a 30% systematic errors in the relative energy determination of the two experiments. Correcting for these systematics, the two experiments are brought in agreement at energies below 10^20 eV and, in this region, are best fit by an injection spectrum with spectral index 2.5-2.6. In the high energy region (above 10^20 eV) the two experiments maintain their disagreement, but only at the 2sigma level. Our results clearly show the need for much larger experiments such as Auger, EUSO, and OWL, that can increase the number of detected events by one or two orders of magnitude.
dc.description4 pages. To be published in the Proceedings of the 28th International Cosmic Ray Conference
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0305336
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0305336
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/6083
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleThe GZK Feature in the Spectrum of UHECRs: What is it Telling Us?
dc.typetext

Files

Collections