WUNA Lunch Talk:

Ingyin Zaw

NYU

A Glimpse at the EeV Universe: Correlation between UHECRs Observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory and Nearby Extragalactic Objects

December 12

12:10PM, Room 230, NRAO, Edgemont Road

Abstract:

Determining the sources of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) has been an important goal since their discovery. Data from the Pierre Auger observatory provide strong evidence that the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies above ~ 6 x 1019 eV are anisotropic. A correlation has been observed between these UHECRs and active galactic nuclei within ~75 Mpc. This distance is consistent with expectations of energy loss due to the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) effect. I will discuss this result and its astronomical implications, as well as the questions for further exploration.