Redundant failures of the dip model of the extragalactic cosmic radiation

TL;DR

This paper critiques the dip model of extragalactic cosmic radiation, highlighting discrepancies between predicted and observed proton flux and composition, suggesting alternative physical phenomena influence cosmic ray spectra.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the dip model's predictions are inconsistent with empirical data from Kascade and Auger, challenging its validity in explaining cosmic ray features.

Findings

Proton flux measurements by Kascade align with other observations.

Auger data on chemical composition contradicts dip model predictions.

Spectral softening above 6 x 10^19 eV likely caused by local phenomena, not intergalactic energy losses.

Abstract

The proton flux and the chemical composition of the cosmic radiation measured, respectively, by the Kascade and Auger experiments entail radical changes in Cosmic Ray Physics. A large discrepancy emerges by comparing the proton flux predicted by the dip model and that measured by Kascade in the critical energy interval 5 x 10 ** 16 - 10 ** 17 eV. It is mentioned and substantiated that the proton flux measurements of the Kascade experiment are consistent with other pertinent empirical observations. It is shown that the chemical composition measured by Auger by two independent procedures, using the mean depth reached by cosmic nuclei in giant air cascades, is incompatible with that predicted by the dip model. A notable consequence suggested here based on the failures of the dip model is that the spectral index softening of the primary cosmic radiation above 6 x 10 ** 19 eV observed by HiRes and Auger experiments, is not due to the extragalactic cosmological protons suffering energy losses in the intergalactic space via the reactions, p gamma -> pi0 p, pi+ n, but to some physical phenomena occurring in the cosmic vicinity.