43rd International Conference on High Energy Physics

Anomalous correlations of UHECR with BL Lac type object in Telescope Array data

Not scheduled

20m

Natal Convention Center

Talk Astro-particle Physics and Cosmology

Speaker

Mrs Mariia Kudenko (Institute for Nuclear Research Russian Academy of Science)

Description

Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) can be produced in active galaxies, and directional correlations between them were studied extensively. One puzzling result was the correlations of arrival directions of UHECR and a particular class of active galactic nuclei, BL Lacertae type objects, discovered in 2004 with the HiRes stereo data set [1,2]. If confirmed, this result would definitely mean new physics or very unconventional astrophysics because it implies neutral particles travelling for cosmological distances. However, the HiRes resolution remains unsurpassed, and the hypothesis has not yet been tested with independent data. This report is focused on tests of correlations of UHECR with the use of Telescope Array surface detectors data and two different statistical methods previously used in [1,2].

[1] – Gorbunov, D. S., Tinyakov, P. G., Tkachev, I. I., & Troitsky, S. V. 2004, JETP Lett., 80, 145, doi: 10.1134/1.1808838
[2] – Abbasi, R. U., Abe, M., Abu-Zayyad, T., et al. 2015, ApJ, 804, 133, doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/133