Analytic calculations of the spectra of ultra-high energy cosmic ray nuclei. I. The case of CMB radiation

TL;DR

This paper compares three analytic methods for calculating the diffuse spectra of ultra-high energy cosmic ray nuclei, focusing on interactions with the cosmic microwave background and their evolution over redshift.

Contribution

It systematically evaluates and compares trajectory, kinetic, and coupled kinetic methods for analytic spectral calculations of cosmic ray nuclei.

Findings

All three methods effectively model nuclei spectra and evolution.

The trajectory method is straightforward for primary flux estimation.

Coupled kinetic equations provide comprehensive solutions.

Abstract

We present a systematic study of different methods for the analytic calculation of ultra-high energy nuclei diffuse spectra. Nuclei propagating in the intergalactic space are photo-disintegrated and decrease their Lorentz factor due to the interaction with cosmic microwave background and extragalactic background light. We calculate the evolution trajectories in the backward time, that describe how atomic mass number $A$ and Lorentz factor $\Gamma$ change with redshift $z$. Three methods of spectra calculations are investigated and compared: {\it (i)} trajectory method, {\it(ii)} kinetic equation combined with trajectory calculations and {\it (iii)} coupled kinetic equations. We believe that these three methods exhaust at least the principal possibilities for any analytic solution of the problem. In the most straightforward method {\it(i)} only trajectory calculations are used to connect the observed nuclei flux with the production rate of primary (accelerated) nuclei $A_0$. In the second method {\it (ii)} the flux (space density) of primary nuclei, and secondary nuclei and protons are calculated with the help of kinetic equation and trajectories are used only to determine the generation rates of these nuclei. The third method {\it (iii)} consists in solving the complete set of coupled kinetic equations, written starting with primary nuclei $A_0$, then for $A_0-1$ etc down to the $A$ of interest. The solution of the preceding equation gives the generation rate for the one which follows. An important element of the calculations for all methods is the systematic use of Lorentz factor instead of energy. We consider here the interaction of nuclei only with the cosmic microwave background, this case is particularly suitable for understanding the physical results.