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Challenges of the Highest Energy Events Observed

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Book cover Phase Transitions in the Early Universe: Theory and Observations

Part of the book series: NATO Science Series ((NAII,volume 40))

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Abstract

The detection of particles with energies above 1020 eV in giant airshowers continues to challenge our attempts to understand them. In this review I outline recent attempts to explain these events. Options include evaporation of miniscule rotating black holes, Lorentz invariance violation, decays of primordial particles, or interactions of decay products such as high energy neutrinos, Gamma Ray Bursts, pulsars, and nearby radio galaxies. This last proposal is the most mundane of all options, the oldest probably, but the most tested one. I will go through this specific proposal in some detail, and clarify what work is there to do to prove or disprove it; I will discuss various alternatives as to which radio galaxy is actually able to accelerate high energy protons. I provide a critical synopsis on our current understanding of where cosmic rays at all energies come from. In this review I will finally develop the challenges and possible tests for new physics using one possible class of radio loud quasars as potential sources of new particles. The new airshower detector systems which cover the Southern sky, AUGER and EUSO will provide the most critical tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, and Department for Physics and Astronomy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Peter L. Biermann

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  1. Peter L. Biermann
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Paris VI, LPTHE, Paris, France

    Héctor J. De Vega

  2. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Moscow, Russia

    Isaak M. Khalatnikov

  3. Observatoire de Paris, Demirm, Paris, France

    Norma G. Sànchez

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Biermann, P.L. (2001). Challenges of the Highest Energy Events Observed. In: De Vega, H.J., Khalatnikov, I.M., Sànchez, N.G. (eds) Phase Transitions in the Early Universe: Theory and Observations. NATO Science Series, vol 40. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0997-3_23

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