Large-scale cosmic-ray anisotropies above 4 EeV measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-13-2018

Department

Department of Physics

Abstract

We present a detailed study of the large-scale anisotropies of cosmic rays with energies above 4 EeV measured using the Pierre Auger Observatory. For the energy bins [4, 8] EeV and E ≥ 8 EeV, the most significant signal is a dipolar modulation in R.A. at energies above 8 EeV, as previously reported. In this paper we further scrutinize the highest-energy bin by splitting it into three energy ranges. We find that the amplitude of the dipole increases with energy above 4 EeV. The growth can be fitted with a power law with index β = 0.79 ± 0.19. The directions of the dipoles are consistent with an extragalactic origin of these anisotropies at all the energies considered. Additionally, we have estimated the quadrupolar components of the anisotropy: they are not statistically significant. We discuss the results in the context of the predictions from different models for the distribution of ultrahigh-energy sources and cosmic magnetic fields.

Publisher's Statement

© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aae689

Publication Title

The Astrophysics Journal

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