Astrophysical aspects of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory

• Grant number: 12/08590-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Carola Dobrigkeit Chinellato
• Grantee: Carolina Queiroz de Abreu Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 10/07359-6 - Study of cosmic rays of highest energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory , AP.TEM

Abstract

This project focuses on the study of cosmic rays of extreme energies under two aspects: the first one is dedicated to the data analysis of the directions of these cosmic rays that arrive on Earth and are measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory, in Argentina, and the second one has a more theoretical approach, based on the astrophysical objects which are candidates to be sources of these ultra-high-energy particles. The study of the arrival directions of cosmic rays on Earth is a promising manner of obtaining information about their origin and propagation through the Galactic and extragalactic space. In this project two autocorrelation tests will be applied to the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies above 1018 eV that have been measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory since January 2004, with the purpose of testing the hypothesis of isotropy in the arrival-direction distribution of cosmic rays without using any astrophysical catalog. Additionally, the characteristics of some astrophysical objects such as active galactic nuclei, supernovae, neutron stars and magnetars will be studied with respect to their capability of accelerating particles up to energies of the order of 1020 eV and being candidates to be sources of these cosmic rays of extreme energies. (AU)