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Significance of the second dip in the ultra-high energy cosmic ray spectrum

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Central European Journal of Physics

Abstract

A new feature in the spectrum of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) has been announced in the paper by Berezinsky, Gazizov and Kachelrieβ. The ratio of the solution of the exact transport equation to its solution in the continuous energy loss limit shows intriguing features which, according to the Authors, are related to the very nature of the energy loss processes of UHECR: the very sharp second dip predicted at 6.3 × 1019 eV can be used as an energy calibration point and also as the UHECR mass indicator for big future cosmic ray experiments. In the present paper we would like to advocate that this statement is an overinterpretation. The second dip is a result of an inappropriate approximation used, and thus it cannot help to understand the nature of UHECR in any way.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Theoretical Physics Departement, University of Łódź Cosmic Ray Laboratory, Soltan Institute for Nuclear Studies, Uniwersytecka 5, 90-950, Łódź, Poland

    Tadeusz Wibig

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  1. Tadeusz Wibig
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Correspondence to Tadeusz Wibig.

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Wibig, T. Significance of the second dip in the ultra-high energy cosmic ray spectrum. centr.eur.j.phys. 5, 528–538 (2007). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11534-007-0030-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11534-007-0030-9

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