arXiv subjects

Armando di Matteo

Publications and source records attributed to Armando di Matteo.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Simulating the propagation of cosmic rays heavier than iron in SimProp

Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) have long been assumed to entirely consist of iron and/or lighter atomic nuclei, and this assumption has been hard-coded in a great deal of software for UHECR simulations and data analysis. However, in the last few years several authors have started questioning this assumption and entertaining the possibility that UHECRs might at least partly consist of nuclei of elements heavier than iron, especially at the highest energies. Thoroughly testing this hypothesis will require upgrading software so that it can handle such nuclei. In this contribution I will describe the minimal modifications required for the last publicly released version of SimProp, a code for Monte Carlo simulations of the intergalactic propagation of UHECRs, to be able to treat heavier nuclei, and discuss the applicability of approximations first introduced for lighter nuclei.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Ideas and Requirements for the Global Cosmic-Ray Observatory (GCOS)

After a successful kick-off meeting in 2021. two workshops in 2022 and 2023 on the future Global Cosmic-Ray Observatory (GCOS) focused mainly on a straw man design of the detector and science possibilities for astro- and particle physics. About 100 participants gathered for in-person and hybrid panel discussions. In this report, we summarize these discussions, present a preliminary straw-man design for GCOS and collect short write-ups of the flash talks given during the focus sessions.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

The UHECR dipole and quadrupole in the latest data from the original Auger and TA surface detectors

The sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are still unknown, but assuming standard physics, they are expected to lie within a few hundred megaparsecs from us. Indeed, over cosmological distances cosmic rays lose energy to interactions with background photons, at a rate depending on their mass number and energy and properties of photonuclear interactions and photon backgrounds. The universe is not homogeneous at such scales, hence the distribution of the arrival directions of cosmic rays is expected to reflect the inhomogeneities in the distribution of galaxies; the shorter the energy loss lengths, the stronger the expected anisotropies. Galactic and intergalactic magnetic fields can blur and distort the picture, but the magnitudes of the largest-scale anisotropies, namely the dipole and quadrupole moments, are the most robust to their effects. Measuring them with no bias regardless of any higher-order multipoles is not possible except with full-sky coverage. In this work, we achieve this in three energy ranges (approximately 8--16 EeV, 16--32 EeV, and 32--$\infty$ EeV) by combining surface-detector data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory until 2020 and at the Telescope Array (TA) until 2019, before the completion of the upgrades of the arrays with new scintillator detectors. We find that the full-sky coverage achieved by combining Auger and TA data reduces the uncertainties on the north-south components of the dipole and quadrupole in half compared to Auger-only results.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

UHECR arrival directions in the latest data from the original Auger and TA surface detectors and nearby galaxies

The distribution of ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray arrival directions appears to be nearly isotropic except for a dipole moment of order $6 \times (E/10~\mathrm{EeV})$ per cent. Nonetheless, at the highest energies, as the number of possible candidate sources within the propagation horizon and the magnetic deflections both shrink, smaller-scale anisotropies might be expected to emerge. On the other hand, the flux suppression reduces the statistics available for searching for such anisotropies. In this work, we consider two different lists of candidate sources: a sample of nearby starburst galaxies and the 2MRS catalog tracing stellar mass within $250~\mathrm{Mpc}$. We combine surface-detector data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory until 2020 and the Telescope Array until 2019, and use them to test models in which UHECRs comprise an isotropic background and a foreground originating from the candidate sources and randomly deflected by magnetic fields. The free parameters of these models are the energy threshold, the signal fraction, and the search angular scale. We find a correlation between the arrival directions of $11.8\%_{-3.1\%}^{+5.0\%}$ of cosmic rays detected with $E \ge 38~\mathrm{EeV}$ by Auger or with $E \gtrsim 49~\mathrm{EeV}$ by TA and the position of nearby starburst galaxies on a ${15.5^\circ}_{-3.2^\circ}^{+5.3^\circ}$ angular scale, with a $4.2σ$ post-trial significance, as well as a weaker correlation with the overall galaxy distribution.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Predictions of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Propagation in the Context of Homogeneously Modified Special Relativity

Ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) may interact with photon backgrounds and thus the universe is opaque to their propagation. Many Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) theories predict a dilation of the expected horizon from which UHECRs can arrive to Earth, in some case even making the interaction probability negligible. In this work, we investigate this effect in the context of the LIV theory that goes by the name of Homogeneously Modified Special Relativity (HMSR). In this work, making use of a specifically modified version of the Sim- Prop simulation program in order to account for the modifications introduced by the theory to the propagation of particles, the radius of the proton opacity horizon (GZK sphere), and the attenuation length for the photopion production process are simulated and the modifications of these quantities introduced by the theory are studied.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Self-consistent approach for measuring the energy spectra and composition of cosmic rays and determining the properties of hadronic interactions at high energy

Air showers, produced by the interaction of energetic cosmic rays with the atmosphere, are an excellent alternative to study particle physics at energies beyond any human-made particle accelerator. For that, it is necessary to identify first the mass composition of the primary cosmic ray (and its energy). None of the existing high energy interaction models have been able to reproduce coherently all air shower observables over the entire energy and zenith angle phase space. This is despite having tried all possible combinations for the cosmic ray mass composition. This proposal outlines a self-consistent strategy to study high energy particle interactions and identify the energy spectra and mass composition of cosmic rays. This strategy involves the participation of different particle accelerators and astrophysics experiments. This is important to cover the entire cosmic ray energy range and a larger phase-space of shower observables to probe the high energy interaction models.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Investigating an angular correlation between nearby starburst galaxies and UHECRs with the Telescope Array experiment

The arrival directions of cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory (Auger) with energies above 39~EeV were recently reported to correlate with the positions of 23 nearby starburst galaxies (SBGs): in their best-fit model, 9.7\% of the cosmic-ray flux originates from these objects and undergoes angular diffusion on a $12.9^\circ$~scale. On the other hand, some of the SBGs on their list, including the brightest one (M82), are at northern declinations outside the Auger field of view. Data from detectors in the northern hemisphere would be needed to look for cosmic-ray excesses near these objects. In this work, we tested the Auger best-fit model against data collected by the Telescope Array (TA) in a 9-year period, without trying to re-optimize the model parameters for our dataset in order not to introduce statistical penalties. The resulting test statistic (double log-likelihood ratio) was $-1.00$, corresponding to $1.1σ$ significance among isotropically generated random datasets, and to $-1.4σ$ significance among ones generated assuming the Auger best-fit model. In other words, our data is still insufficient to conclusively rule out either hypothesis. The ongoing fourfold expansion of TA will collect northern hemisphere data with much more statistics, improving our ability to discriminate between different flux models.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Secondary neutrino and gamma-ray fluxes from SimProp and CRPropa

The interactions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) in extragalactic space with photons of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and extragalactic background light (EBL) can generate high-energy neutrinos and photons. Simulations of UHECR propagation require knowledge about physical quantities such as the spectrum of the EBL and photodisintegration cross sections. These assumptions, as well as the approximations used in the codes, may influence the computed UHECR spectrum and composition, and the associated cosmogenic neutrino and photon fluxes. Following up on our previous work where we studied the effects of these uncertainties on the UHECR spectrum and composition, here we quantify those on neutrino fluxes and production rates of photons, electrons, and positrons, using the Monte Carlo codes CRPropa and SimProp, in various astrophysical scenarios. We show that cosmogenic neutrinos are more sensitive to the choice of EBL model than UHECRs, whereas the overall cosmogenic gamma-ray production rates are relatively independent of propagation details. We also find significant differences between neutrino fluxes predicted by the latest released versions of CRPropa and SimProp, and discuss their causes and possible improvements in future versions of the codes.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

How isotropic can the UHECR flux be?

Modern observatories of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) have collected over 10^4 events with energies above 10 EeV, whose arrival directions appear to be nearly isotropically distributed. On the other hand, the distribution of matter in the nearby Universe -- and, therefore, presumably also that of UHECR sources -- is not homogeneous. This is expected to leave an imprint on the angular distribution of UHECR arrival directions, though deflections by cosmic magnetic fields can confound the picture. In this work, we investigate quantitatively this apparent inconsistency. To this end we study observables sensitive to UHECR source inhomogeneities but robust to uncertainties on magnetic fields and the UHECR mass composition. We show, in a rather model-independent way, that if the source distribution tracks the overall matter distribution, the arrival directions at energies above 30 EeV should exhibit a sizeable dipole and quadrupole anisotropy, detectable by UHECR observatories in the very near future. Were it not the case, one would have to seriously reconsider the present understanding of cosmic magnetic fields and/or the UHECR composition. Also, we show that the lack of a strong quadrupole moment above 10 EeV in the current data already disfavours a pure proton composition, and that in the very near future measurements of the dipole and quadrupole moment above 60 EeV will be able to provide evidence about the UHECR mass composition at those energies.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

SimProp v2r4: Monte Carlo simulation code for UHECR propagation

We introduce the new version of SimProp, a Monte Carlo code for simulating the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays in intergalactic space. This version, SimProp v2r4, together with an overall improvement of the code capabilities with a substantial reduction in the computation time, also computes secondary cosmogenic particles such as electron-positron pairs and gamma rays produced during the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. As recently pointed out by several authors, the flux of this secondary radiation and its products, within reach of the current observatories, provides useful information about models of ultra-high energy cosmic ray sources which would be hard to discriminate otherwise.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

The UHECR source evolution and high-energy neutrinos and γ-rays

Interactions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with background photons set a limit to the distance cosmic rays reaching us above a certain energy can originate from, making measurements of their fluxes insensitive to properties of sources at high redshifts. On the other hand, the secondary PeV--EeV neutrinos produced in UHECR propagation can reach the Earth even from very high redshifts, and electromagnetic cascades initiated by secondary photons and electrons/positrons contribute to the diffuse gamma-ray background. Therefore, a multi-messenger analysis combining UHECR, neutrino, and gamma-ray data can still provide information about the cosmological evolution of UHECR sources. In this work, we compare predicted particle fluxes from Monte Carlo simulations in various scenarios with recent experimental data, and discuss the conclusions that can be drawn about UHECR sources and their cosmological evolution.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Astrophysical interpretation of Pierre Auger Observatory measurements of the UHECR energy spectrum and mass composition

We present a combined fit of a simple astrophysical model of UHECR sources to both the energy spectrum and mass composition data measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The fit has been performed for energies above 5 EeV, i.e. the region of the all-particle spectrum above the so-called "ankle" feature. The astrophysical model we adopted consists of identical sources uniformly distributed in a comoving volume, where nuclei are accelerated with a rigidity-dependent mechanism. The fit results suggest sources characterized by relatively low maximum injection energies and hard spectral indices. The impact of various systematic uncertainties on the above result is discussed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Cosmogenic neutrinos and gamma-rays and the redshift evolution of UHECR sources

If ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) have extragalactic origins, as is widely assumed to be the case at least for the majority of cosmic rays with energies above a few EeV, secondary neutrinos and photons can be expected to be produced during the propagation of UHECRs through intergalactic space via interactions with cosmic background photons. The fluxes of such secondary particles are strongly dependent on the redshift evolution of the emissivity (number density times luminosity) of UHECR sources. We show how cosmic rays, neutrinos, and gamma rays can potentially provide complementary information about UHECR source evolution.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

SimProp v2r3: Monte Carlo simulation code of UHECR propagation

We introduce the new version of SimProp, a Monte Carlo code for simulating the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays in intergalactic space. This version, SimProp v2r3, allows the choice of many more models for the extragalactic background light spectrum and evolution and photodisintegration cross sections and branching ratios than previous versions of SimProp.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Effects of uncertainties in simulations of extragalactic UHECR propagation, using CRPropa and SimProp

The results of simulations of the extragalactic propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) have intrinsic uncertainties due to poorly known physical quantities and approximations used in the codes. We quantify the uncertainties in the simulated UHECR spectrum and composition due to different models for the extragalactic background light (EBL), different photodisintegration setups, approximations concerning photopion production and the use of different simulation codes. We discuss the results for several representative source scenarios with proton, nitrogen or iron at injection. For this purpose we used SimProp and CRPropa, two publicly available codes for Monte Carlo simulations of UHECR propagation. CRPropa is a detailed and extensive simulation code, while SimProp aims to achieve acceptable results using a simpler code. We show that especially the choices for the EBL model and the photodisintegration setup can have a considerable impact on the simulated UHECR spectrum and composition.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Surprises from extragalactic propagation of UHECRs

Ultra-high energy cosmic ray experimental data are now of very good statistical significance even in the region of the expected GZK feature. The identification of their sources requires sophisticate analysis of their propagation in the extragalactic space. When looking at the details of this propagation some unforeseen features emerge. We will discuss some of these "surprises".

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Are Cosmic Rays still a valuable probe of Lorentz Invariance Violations in the Auger era?

Relativistic Invariance might be modified by Quantum Gravity effects. The interesting point which emerged in the last fifteen years is that remnants of possible Lorentz Invariance Violations could be present at energies much lower than their natural scale, and possibly affect Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays phenomena. We discuss their status in the view of recent data from the Pierre Auger Observatory.

astro-ph.HE↗