1. Correlation of the highest-energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic objects.
- Author
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Abraham J, Abreu P, Aglietta M, Aguirre C, Allard D, Allekotte I, Allen J, Allison P, Alvarez C, Alvarez-Muñiz J, Ambrosio M, Anchordoqui L, Andringa S, Anzalone A, Aramo C, Argirò S, Arisaka K, Armengaud E, Arneodo F, Arqueros F, Asch T, Asorey H, Assis P, Atulugama BS, Aublin J, Ave M, Avila G, Bäcker T, Badagnani D, Barbosa AF, Barnhill D, Barroso SL, Bauleo P, Beatty J, Beau T, Becker BR, Becker KH, Bellido JA, Benzvi S, Berat C, Bergmann T, Bernardini P, Bertou X, Biermann PL, Billoir P, Blanch-Bigas O, Blanco F, Blasi P, Bleve C, Blümer H, Bohácová M, Bonifazi C, Bonino R, Boratav M, Brack J, Brogueira P, Brown WC, Buchholz P, Bueno A, Busca NG, Caballero-Mora KS, Cai B, Camin DV, Caruso R, Carvalho W, Castellina A, Catalano O, Cataldi G, Cazón-Boado L, Cester R, Chauvin J, Chiavassa A, Chinellato JA, Chou A, Chye J, Clark PD, Clay RW, Colombo E, Conceição R, Connolly B, Contreras F, Coppens J, Cordier A, Cotti U, Coutu S, Covault CE, Creusot A, Cronin J, Dagoret-Campagne S, Daumiller K, Dawson BR, de Almeida RM, De Donato C, de Jong SJ, De La Vega G, de Mello Junior WJ, de Mello Neto JR, De Mitri I, de Souza V, Del Peral L, Deligny O, Selva AD, Fratte CD, Dembinski H, Di Giulio C, Diaz JC, Dobrigkeit C, D'Olivo JC, Dornic D, Dorofeev A, Dos Anjos JC, Dova MT, D'Urso D, Duvernois MA, Engel R, Epele L, Erdmann M, Escobar CO, Etchegoyen A, Facal San Luis P, Falcke H, Farrar G, Fauth AC, Fazzini N, Fernández A, Ferrer F, Ferry S, Fick B, Filevich A, Filipcic A, Fleck I, Fonte R, Fracchiolla CE, Fulgione W, García B, García Gámez D, Garcia-Pinto D, Garrido X, Geenen H, Gelmini G, Gemmeke H, Ghia PL, Giller M, Glass H, Gold MS, Golup G, Albarracin FG, Berisso MG, Herrero RG, Gonçalves P, Gonçalves do Amaral M, Gonzalez D, Gonzalez JG, González M, Góra D, Gorgi A, Gouffon P, Grassi V, Grillo A, Grunfeld C, Guardincerri Y, Guarino F, Guedes GP, Gutiérrez J, Hague JD, Hamilton JC, Hansen P, Harari D, Harmsma S, Harton JL, Haungs A, Hauschildt T, Healy MD, Hebbeker T, Heck D, Hojvat C, Holmes VC, Homola P, Hörandel J, Horneffer A, Horvat M, Hrabovsky M, Huege T, Iarlori M, Insolia A, Ionita F, Italiano A, Kaducak M, Kampert KH, Keilhauer B, Kemp E, Kieckhafer RM, Klages HO, Kleifges M, Kleinfeller J, Knapik R, Knapp J, Koang DH, Kopmann A, Krieger A, Krömer O, Kümpel D, Kunka N, Kusenko A, La Rosa G, Lachaud C, Lago BL, Lebrun D, Lebrun P, Lee J, Leigui de Oliveira MA, Letessier-Selvon A, Leuthold M, Lhenry-Yvon I, López R, Lopez Agüera A, Lozano Bahilo J, Maccarone MC, Macolino C, Maldera S, Malek M, Mancarella G, Manceñido ME, Mandat D, Mantsch P, Mariazzi AG, Maris IC, Martello D, Martínez J, Martínez Bravo O, Mathes HJ, Matthews J, Matthews JA, Matthiae G, Maurizio D, Mazur PO, McCauley T, McEwen M, McNeil RR, Medina MC, Medina-Tanco G, Meli A, Melo D, Menichetti E, Menschikov A, Meurer C, Meyhandan R, Micheletti MI, Miele G, Miller W, Mollerach S, Monasor M, Monnier Ragaigne D, Montanet F, Morales B, Morello C, Moreno E, Moreno JC, Morris C, Mostafá M, Muller MA, Mussa R, Navarra G, Navarro JL, Navas S, Nellen L, Newman-Holmes C, Newton D, Thi TN, Nierstenhöfer N, Nitz D, Nosek D, Nozka L, Oehlschläger J, Ohnuki T, Olinto A, Olmos-Gilbaja VM, Ortiz M, Ostapchenko S, Otero L, Pakk Selmi-Dei D, Palatka M, Pallotta J, Parente G, Parizot E, Parlati S, Pastor S, Patel M, Paul T, Pavlidou V, Payet K, Pech M, Pekala J, Pelayo R, Pepe IM, Perrone L, Petrera S, Petrinca P, Petrov Y, Ngoc D, Ngoc D, Pham Thi TN, Pichel A, Piegaia R, Pierog T, Pimenta M, Pinto T, Pirronello V, Pisanti O, Platino M, Pochon J, Porter TA, Privitera P, Prouza M, Quel EJ, Rautenberg J, Reucroft S, Revenu B, Rezende FA, Rídky J, Riggi S, Risse M, Rivière C, Rizi V, Roberts M, Robledo C, Rodriguez G, Rodríguez Frías D, Rodriguez Martino J, Rodriguez Rojo J, Rodriguez-Cabo I, Ros G, Rosado J, Roth M, Rouillé-d'Orfeuil B, Roulet E, Rovero AC, Salamida F, Salazar H, Salina G, Sánchez F, Santander M, Santo CE, Santos EM, Sarazin F, Sarkar S, Sato R, Scherini V, Schieler H, Schmidt F, Schmidt T, Scholten O, Schovánek P, Schüssler F, Sciutto SJ, Scuderi M, Segreto A, Semikoz D, Settimo M, Shellard RC, Sidelnik I, Siffert BB, Sigl G, De Grande NS, Smialkowski A, Smída R, Smith AG, Smith BE, Snow GR, Sokolsky P, Sommers P, Sorokin J, Spinka H, Squartini R, Strazzeri E, Stutz A, Suarez F, Suomijärvi T, Supanitsky AD, Sutherland MS, Swain J, Szadkowski Z, Takahashi J, Tamashiro A, Tamburro A, Tascau O, Tcaciuc R, Thomas D, Ticona R, Tiffenberg J, Timmermans C, Tkaczyk W, Todero Peixoto CJ, Tomé B, Tonachini A, Torresi D, Travnicek P, Tripathi A, Tristram G, Tscherniakhovski D, Tueros M, Tunnicliffe V, Ulrich R, Unger M, Urban M, Valdés Galicia JF, Valiño I, Valore L, van den Berg AM, van Elewyck V, Vázquez RA, Veberic D, Veiga A, Velarde A, Venters T, Verzi V, Videla M, Villaseñor L, Vorobiov S, Voyvodic L, Wahlberg H, Wainberg O, Waldenmaier T, Walker P, Warner D, Watson AA, Westerhoff S, Wieczorek G, Wiencke L, Wilczynska B, Wilczynski H, Wileman C, Winnick MG, Wu H, Wundheiler B, Xu J, Yamamoto T, Younk P, Zas E, Zavrtanik D, Zavrtanik M, Zech A, Zepeda A, Ziolkowski M, and Kégl B
- Abstract
Using data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory during the past 3.7 years, we demonstrated a correlation between the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energy above 6 x 10(19) electron volts and the positions of active galactic nuclei (AGN) lying within approximately 75 megaparsecs. We rejected the hypothesis of an isotropic distribution of these cosmic rays with at least a 99% confidence level from a prescribed a priori test. The correlation we observed is compatible with the hypothesis that the highest-energy particles originate from nearby extragalactic sources whose flux has not been substantially reduced by interaction with the cosmic background radiation. AGN or objects having a similar spatial distribution are possible sources.
- Published
- 2007
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