A Peters cycle at the end of the cosmic ray spectrum?

TL;DR

This paper examines whether current ultrahigh energy cosmic ray data support a Peters cycle, finding that alternative models are generally more consistent with observations and exploring implications for source physics and new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of Peters cycle versus alternative cosmic ray spectra models using observational data.

Findings

A Peters cycle is not strongly supported by current data.

Alternative models better explain the observed spectra.

Potential to probe source conditions and physics beyond the Standard Model.

Abstract

We investigate the degree to which current ultrahigh energy cosmic ray observations above the ankle support a common maximum rigidity for all nuclei, often called a Peters cycle, over alternative scenarios for the cosmic ray spectra escaping sources. We show that a Peters cycle is not generally supported by the data when compared with these alternatives. We explore the observational signatures of non-Peters cycle scenarios, and the opportunities to explore both ultrahigh energy cosmic ray source conditions, as well as, physics beyond the Standard model they present.