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Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4302–4305 (1997)

Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays without Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin Cutoff

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V. Berezinsky1, M. Kachelrieß1, and A. Vilenkin2
1INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, I-67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy
2Institute of Cosmology, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155

Received 26 August 1997; published in the issue dated 1 December 1997

We study the decays of metastable superheavy particles as the source of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHE CR). These particles are assumed to constitute a tiny fraction ξX of cold dark matter in the Universe. The UHE CR fluxes produced at the decays of X particles are calculated. The dominant contribution is given by fluxes of photons and nucleons from the halo of our Galaxy and thus does not exhibit the GZK cutoff. The extragalactic components of UHE CR are suppressed by the smaller extragalactic density of X particles and, hence, the cascade limit is relaxed. We discuss the spectrum of produced extensive air showers and a signal from a Virgo cluster as signatures of this model.

© 1997 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.4302
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.4302
PACS:
98.70.Sa, 14.80.-j, 95.35.+d, 96.40.Pq