Prospects for Charged Particle Astronomy

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the detectability of cosmic ray sources at different energies, deriving minimum source separations for likelihood of detection, considering magnetic fields and source types.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of source detectability thresholds for various cosmic ray energies and source models, incorporating magnetic field effects.

Findings

Detection likelihood depends on source separation and energy regime.

Super-GZK detection is signal limited, magnetic fields negligible.

Sub-GZK detection is background limited, magnetic fields influential.

Abstract

The likelihood of detecting individual discrete sources of cosmic rays depends on the mean separation between sources. The analysis here derives the minimum separation that makes it likely that the closest source is detectable. For super-GZK energies, detection is signal limited and magnetic fields should not matter. For sub-GZK energies, detection is background limited, and intergalactic magnetic fields enter the analysis through one adjustable parameter. Both super-GZK and sub-GZK results are presented for four different types of sources: steady isotropic sources, steady jet sources, isotropic bursts, and jet bursts.