Abstract
This paper summarizes the limits on propagation of ultra high energy particles in the Universe, set up by their interactions with cosmic background of photons and neutrinos. By taking into account cosmic evolution of these backgrounds and considering appropriate interactions we derive the mean free path for ultra high energy photons, protons and neutrinos. For photons the relevant processes are the Breit-Wheeler process as well as the double pair production process. For protons the relevant reactions are the photopion production and the Bethe-Heitler process. We discuss the interplay between the energy loss length and mean free path for the Bethe-Heitler process. Neutrino opacity is determined by its scattering off the cosmic background neutrino. We compute for the first time the high energy neutrino horizon as a function of its energy.
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Notes
We assume that UHE protons collide with the with CMB photons head on. More accurate calculation with average over angular distribution of the CMB photons does not change qualitatively our results.
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We thank the anonymous referee for comments which improved the presentation of the results in this paper.
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Ruffini, R., Vereshchagin, G.V. & Xue, SS. Cosmic absorption of ultra high energy particles. Astrophys Space Sci 361, 82 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-016-2668-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-016-2668-5