Searching for signals of magnetic lensing in ultra-high energy cosmic rays

TL;DR

This paper introduces a technique to detect secondary images of cosmic ray sources caused by magnetic lensing effects in the galactic magnetic field, which could help identify cosmic ray origins.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel method to identify secondary images of cosmic rays due to galactic magnetic lensing, leveraging flux magnification near caustics.

Findings

Demonstrated the potential to detect secondary images of cosmic rays.

Highlighted the significance of flux magnification near caustics.

Provided a framework for future observational searches.

Abstract

Ultra-high energy cosmic rays are mostly charged particles and they are therefore deflected by magnetic fields on their path from their sources to Earth. An interesting phenomenon arising from these deflections is the appearance of multiple images of a source, i.e. cosmic rays with the same energy coming from the same source that can arrive to the Earth from different directions. In this work we present a technique to identify secondary images, produced by the regular component of the galactic magnetic field, benefiting from the fact that near caustics the flux is significantly magnified.