The highest energy cosmic rays from superheavy dark matter particles

TL;DR

This paper proposes that ultra heavy dark matter particles, which arise in certain modified gravity models, could be the source of the highest energy cosmic rays observed beyond 10^19 eV, explaining their mysterious origins.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hypothesis linking superheavy dark matter decay or annihilation to ultra high energy cosmic rays, grounded in models related to Starobinsky inflation.

Findings

Ultra heavy dark matter particles can produce cosmic rays exceeding 10^19 eV.

Decay or annihilation of these particles could explain the highest energy cosmic ray events.

Links between modified gravity models and cosmic ray origins are explored.

Abstract

It is commonly accepted that high energy cosmic rays up to $10^{19}$ eV can be produced in catastrophic astrophysical processes. However the source of a few observed events with higher energies remains mysterious. We propose that they may originate from decay or annihilation of ultra heavy particles of dark matter. Such particles naturally appear in some models of modified gravity related to Starobinsky inflation.