Search for Individual Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Ray Sources in the Future Data

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method for identifying individual ultrahigh energy cosmic ray sources by analyzing high-energy event maps, accounting for Galactic Magnetic Field effects, and reconstructing source positions and deflections.

Contribution

The study proposes a novel detection technique for UHECR sources that leverages low-energy tails from high-energy events, considering the Galactic Magnetic Field's influence.

Findings

68% of reconstructed sources are within one degree of true position

Deflection power can be reconstructed with 25% precision in 68% of cases

Method effectiveness depends on turbulent Galactic Magnetic Field parameters

Abstract

We propose a new way to detect individual bright Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) sources above background if the Galactic Magnetic Field (GMF) gives the main contribution to UHECR deflections. This method can be directly applied to maps given by experiments. It consists in starting from at least two high energy events above 6x10^19 eV, and looking at lower energy tails. We test the efficiency of the method and investigate its dependence on different parameters. In case of detection, the source position and the local GMF deflection power are reconstructed. Both reconstructions are strongly affected by the turbulent GMF. With the parameters adopted in this study, for 68 % of reconstructed sources, the angular position is less than one degree from the real one. For typical turbulent field strengths of 4 \mu G at the Earth position and 1.5 kpc extension in the halo, one can reconstruct the deflection power with 25 % precision in 68 % of cases.