The cosmic ray luminosity of the nearby active galactic nuclei

TL;DR

This paper investigates the correlation between observed cosmic ray directions and nearby active galactic nuclei, estimating their cosmic ray luminosity and comparing it to their optical luminosity.

Contribution

It provides a method to estimate the cosmic ray luminosity of active galactic nuclei based on observed air showers and their positional correlation.

Findings

Cosmic ray luminosity is about 0.0001 of optical luminosity for energies above 60 EeV.

If cosmic rays have a spectrum up to 100 GeV, luminosity estimates increase significantly.

A positional correlation within 3.1 degrees suggests AGNs as potential sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

Abstract

The pointing directions of extensive air showers observed at the Pierre Auger Observatory were fitted within 3.1 degree with positions of the nearby active galactic nuclei from the Veron-Cetty and P. Veron catalog. The cosmic ray luminosity of the active galactic nuclei which happened to be a source of the particular cosmic ray event constitutes a fraction ~0.0001 of the optical one if only cosmic ray particles with energies above 60 EeV are produced. If produced cosmic ray particles have a spectrum dE/E^3 up to ~100 GeV then the cosmic ray luminosity would be much higher than the optical one of the active galactic nuclei.