Gamma-ray bursters as sources of cosmic rays |
| |
| Authors: | Mordehai Milgrom Vladimir Usov |
| |
| Institution: | Department of condensed-matter physics, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot 76100, Israel |
| |
| Abstract: | From the little we know of the physical conditions in γ-ray bursters, it seems that they are potentially effective in the acceleration of high-energy cosmic rays (CRs), especially if the bursters are at cosmological distances. We find that, with the observed statistics and fluxes of γ-ray bursts, cosmological bursters may be an important source of cosmic rays in two regions of the observed spectrum: (1) At the very-high-energy end (E > 1019 eV), where CRs must be of extragalactic origin. (2) Around and above the spectral feature that has been described as a bump and/or a knee, which occurs around 1015 eV. The occasional bursters that occur inside the Galaxy — about once in a few hundred thousand years if burst emission is isotropic; more often, if it is beamed — could maintain the density of galactic cosmic rays at the observed level in this range. These two energy ranges might correspond to two typical CR energy scales characteristic of bursters: one pertinent to CR acceleration due to interaction of a magnetized-fireball front with an ambient medium; the other to acceleration in the fireball itself (e.g. shock acceleration). |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
