Comment on "Correlation of the Highest-Energy Cosmic Rays with Nearby Extragalactic Objects"

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the Pierre Auger Collaboration's claim that most high-energy cosmic rays originate from nearby astrophysical sources, providing evidence that challenges this hypothesis with high confidence.

Contribution

It offers a statistical analysis that questions the proton-source correlation hypothesis for the highest-energy cosmic rays.

Findings

Data disfavor the proton-source hypothesis at 99% confidence

Challenges the idea that nearby AGN are the primary sources

Supports alternative explanations for cosmic ray origins

Abstract

We argue that the data published by the Pierre Auger Collaboration (arXiv:0711.2256) disfavor at 99% confidence level their hypothesis that most of the highest-energy cosmic rays are protons from nearby astrophysical sources, either Active Galactic Nuclei or other objects with a similar spatial distribution.