2001/08/31 by S. Sarkar, Subir Sarkar, Ramon Toldra +1 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmic ray #DGLAP #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Elementary particle #Fragmentation (computing) #Galaxy #Halo #Neutrino #Nuclear physics #Nucleon #Particle acceleration #Particle decay #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Parton #Physics #Quantum chromodynamics #Spectral line #Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/s0550-3213(01)00565-x
published as Nucl.Phys.B621:495-520,2002 · 30 pages (revtex), 12 figures (eps); Small revisions; Accepted for publication
arxiv created 2001/11/12 · openalex publication_date 2002/01/01 · arxiv updated 2014/11/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
It has been speculated that the recently detected ultra-high energy cosmic rays may originate from the decays of relic particles with mass of order 1012 GeV clustered in the halo of our Galaxy. This hypothesis can be tested through forthcoming measurements of the spectra of both high energy cosmic nucleons and neutrinos, which are determined in this model by the physics of QCD fragmentation, with no astrophysical uncertainties. We evolve fragmentation spectra measured at LEP energies up to the scale of the decaying particle mass by numerical solution of the DGLAP equations. This enables incorporation of the effects of supersymmetry on the development of the cascade and we also allow for decays into many-particle states. The calculated spectral shape agrees well with present cosmic ray data beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin energy.