arXiv subjects

Esteban Roulet

Publications and source records attributed to Esteban Roulet.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2000

Signatures of galactic magnetic lensing upon ultra high energy cosmic rays

We analyse several implications of lensing by the regular component of the galactic magnetic field upon the observed properties of ultra high energy cosmic rays. Magnetic fields deflect cosmic ray trajectories, causing flux (de)magnification, formation of multiple images of a single source, and time delays. We derive the energy dependence of these effects near the caustics at which the flux amplification of a point source diverges. We show that the large magnification of images around caustics leads to an amplification bias, which can make them dominate the flux in some energy ranges. We argue that clustering in the arrival directions of UHECRs of comparable energy may be due to magnetic lensing around caustics. We show that magnetic lensing can also significantly alter the observed composition of cosmic rays at the highest energies. We also show that the time delay between events from a single image may monotonically decrease with decreasing energy in the neighborhood of a caustic, opposite to its behaviour in normal regions.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

The toes of the ultra high energy cosmic ray spectrum

We study the effects of the galactic magnetic field on the ultra high energy cosmic ray propagation. We show that the deflections of the cosmic ray trajectories can have many important implications such as (de)magnification of the cosmic ray fluxes by lensing effects (which can modify the spectrum of individual sources), the formation of multiple images of a source or the existence of regions of the sky to which the Earth is almost blind. The appearance of image pairs is related to the existence of critical curves in the magnification maps, which divide regions in the sky where the images have opposite parities. The results are pictorially illustrated as the stretching and folding of a `sheet' describing the sky seen on Earth. Making use of the most energetic AGASA events we emphasize the need to know the cosmic ray composition and the structure of the magnetic field when attempting to do detailed cosmic ray astronomy.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

Gravitational lensing as folds in the sky

We revisit the gravitational lensing phenomenon using a new visualization technique. It consists in projecting the observers sky into the source plane, what gives rise to a folded and stretched surface. This provides a clear graphical tool to visualize some interesting well-known effects, such as the development of multiple images of a source, the structure of the caustic curves, the parity of the images and their magnification as a function of the source position.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

Neutrinos in physics and astrophysics

An elementary general overview of the neutrino physics and astrophysics is given. We start by a historical account of the development of our understanding of neutrinos and how they helped to unravel the structure of the Standard Model. We discuss why it is so important to establish if neutrinos are massive and we introduce the main scenarios to provide them a mass. The present bounds and the positive indications in favor of non-zero neutrino masses are discussed as well as the major role they play in astrophysics and cosmology.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1999

On the disintegration of cosmic ray nuclei by solar photons

We discuss in detail the possibility of observing pairs of simultaneous parallel air showers produced by the fragments of cosmic ray nuclei which disintegrated in collisions with solar photons. We consider scenarios with different cosmic ray compositions, exploring the predicted rates for existing and planned detectors and looking for methods to extract information on the initial composition from the characteristics of the signal. In particular, we find that fluorescence detectors, such as HiRes or the Telescope Array, due to their low threshold ($\sim 10^{17}$ eV) and large area ($\sim 10^4 km^2$) may observe several events per year if cosmic rays at those energies are indeed heavy nuclei. The possibility of exploiting the angular orientation of the plane containing the two showers to further constrain the cosmic ray composition is also discussed.

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arXiv1998

On the propagation of the highest energy cosmic ray nuclei

We study the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic ray nuclei through the background of cosmic microwave and intergalactic infrared photons, using recent re-estimates for the density of the last ones. We perform a detailed Monte Carlo simulation to follow the disintegration histories of nuclei starting as Fe and reaching the Earth from extragalactic sources. We obtain the maximum energies of the arriving nuclear fragments as well as the mass composition as a function of the distance traveled. Cosmic rays with energies in excess of $2\times 10^{20}$ eV cannot originate from Fe nuclei produced in sources beyond 10 Mpc.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1998

Comment on "On the Origin of the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays"

We show that the photodisintegration of heavy cosmic ray nuclei with energies above 10^20 eV is dominated by interactions with photons from the cosmic microwave background radiation, rather than from infrared ones. This implies that the observed air shower events with energies 2-3 10^20 eV cannot originate from Fe nuclei coming from distances beyond 10 Mpc

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arXiv1997

On the CP asymmetries in Majorana neutrino decays

We study the CP asymmetries in lepton number violating two body scattering processes and show explicitly how they vanish, in agreement with unitarity constraints. We relate these cross section asymmetries to the CP decay rate asymmetries of the intermediate massive neutrinos and show how the inclusion of the Universe expansion via Boltzmann equations is the key ingredient to allow the production of a non-vanishing asymmetry in spite of the unitarity constraint on the cross sections. We then show that the absorptive parts of both the one loop vertex and self energy corrections do contribute to the CP decay asymmetries.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1997

Electron neutrino opacity in magnetised media

We study the effects of strong magnetic fields ($B> 10^{13}$~G) in the cross section for $ν_e n\to p e$ scattering in the presence of a degenerate electron background. This can be relevant for the $ν_e$ propagation in the proto-neutron star stage after supernovae collapse. We find that for field strengths $B> 10^{16}$~G$(E_ν/10$ MeV$)^2$ the $ν_e$ opacity is sizeably affected by the magnetic field and can lead to a shift in the location of the electron neutrino sphere towards lower densities. We discuss the implications that this may have for scenarios proposed to explain the observed pulsar velocities.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1997

Finite temperature effects on CP violating asymmetries

We compute the CP violating decay asymmetries relevant for baryogenesis scenarios involving the out of equilibrium decays of heavy particles, including the finite temperature effects arising from the background of light thermal particles which are present during the decay epoch. Thermal effects can modify the size of CP violation by a sizeable fraction in the decay of scalar particles, but we find interesting cancellations in the thermal corrections affecting the asymmetries in the decays of fermions, as well as in the decay of scalars in supersymmetric theories. We also estimate the effects which arise from the motion of the decaying particles with respect to the background plasma.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

Kicked neutron stars and microlensing

Due to the large kick velocities with which neutron stars are born in supernovae explosions, their spatial distribution is more extended than that of their progenitor stars. The large scale height of the neutron stars above the disk plane makes them potential candidates for microlensing of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Adopting for the distribution of kicks the measured velocities of young pulsars, we obtain a microlensing optical depth of $τ\sim 2 N_{10} \times 10^{-8}$ (where $N_{10}$ is the total number of neutron stars born in the disk in units of $10^{10}$). The event duration distribution has the interesting property of being peaked at $T \sim 60$--80 d, but for the rates to be relevant for the present microlensing searches would require $N_{10} \gtap 1$, a value larger than the usually adopted ones ($N_{10} \sim 0.1$--0.2).

astro-ph↗

arXiv1994

New Neutral Gauge Bosons and New Heavy Fermions in the Light of the New LEP Data

We derive limits on a class of new physics effects that are naturally present in grand unified theories based on extended gauge groups, and in particular in $E_6$ and $SO(10)$ models. We concentrate on $i$) the effects of the mixing of new neutral gauge bosons with the standard $Z_0$; $ii$) the effects of a mixing of the known fermions with new heavy states. We perform a global analysis including all the LEP data on the $Z$ decay widths and asymmetries collected until 1993, the SLC measurement of the left--right asymmetry, the measurement of the $W$ boson mass, various charged current constraints, and the low energy neutral current experiments. We use a top mass value in the range announced by CDF. We derive limits on the $Z_0$--$Z_1$ mixing, which are always $\lsim 0.01$ and are at the level of a few {\it per mille} if some specific model is assumed. Model-dependent theoretical relations between the mixing and the mass of the new gauge boson in most cases require $M_{Z'} > 1\,$TeV. Limits on light--heavy fermion mixings are also largely improved with respect to previous analyses, and are particularly relevant for a class of models that we discuss.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1994

Neutrino Masses

This is a review for Reports of Progress in Physics. After an introduction we start by explaining the different neutrino masses corresponding to different types of neutrinos, Dirac or Majorana, in section 2. In section 3 we discuss the main elementary particle models for neutrino masses and their distinctive phenomenological consequences. In section 4 we describe the status of direct mass searches and Majorana mass searches in neutrinoless double beta decays. In section 5 we go over the many cosmological implications of, and constraints on, neutrino properties, mainly masses and lifetimes. Sections 6, 7 and 8 review neutrino oscillations, the solar neutrino problem and the atmospheric neutrino problem, their implications and the current and future experiments. In particular, we explain oscillations in vacuum in section 6 and oscillations in matter in section 7. Section 9 summarizes the main bounds imposed by stars, mainly SN1987A. A few concluding remarks follow.

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