Nuclear Physics Meets the Sources of the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays.

ABSTRACT: The determination of the injection composition of cosmic ray nuclei within astrophysical sources requires sufficiently accurate descriptions of the source physics and the propagation - apart from controlling astrophysical uncertainties. We therefore study the implications of nuclear data and models for cosmic ray astrophysics, which involves the photo-disintegration of nuclei up to iron in astrophysical environments. We demonstrate that the impact of nuclear model uncertainties is potentially larger in environments with non-thermal radiation fields than in the cosmic microwave background. We also study the impact of nuclear models on the nuclear cascade in a gamma-ray burst radiation field, simulated at a level of complexity comparable to the most precise cosmic ray propagation code. We co

SUBMITTER: Boncioli D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5501817 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature