Astrophysics Results from the Pierre Auger Observatory |
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The construction of the Pierre Auger Observatory was completed in May 2008. The inauguration of the Observatory took place in November 2008. Significant astrophysical information has been already acquired. References to published work are listed under References. Two very important results have been reported recently. (ii) The observation that the highest energy particles are of extragalactic origin (and may originate in Active Galactic Nuclei) [2].
Another important result has been published relating to the search for signals from the centre of our Galaxy and to the search for photons above 1018 eV in the general cosmic ray flux. The search for high energy photons [4] was motivated as a consequence of discussions of exotic explanations for the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays. One such explanation supposes the existence of very massive particles created in the early Universe when it was very hot. These particles are predicted to decay to give cosmic rays. However such an explanation predicts large numbers of photons at the highest energies but this is not found from the studies made at the Pierre Auger Observatory. High energy neutrinos are also expected from such processes: the results of our search for neutrinos are published [5]. |
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