On the measurement of the helicity of intergalactic magnetic fields using ultra-high-energy cosmic rays

The origin of the first magnetic fields in the Universe is a standing problem in cosmology. Intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs) may be an untapped window to the primeval Universe, providing further constrains on magnetogenesis. We demonstrate the feasibility of using ultra-high-energy cosmic rays...

وصف كامل

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
المؤلفون الرئيسيون: Alves Batista, R, Saveliev, A
التنسيق: Journal article
اللغة:English
منشور في: IOP Publishing 2019
الوصف
الملخص:The origin of the first magnetic fields in the Universe is a standing problem in cosmology. Intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs) may be an untapped window to the primeval Universe, providing further constrains on magnetogenesis. We demonstrate the feasibility of using ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) to constrain the helicity of IGMFs by performing simulations of cosmic-ray propagation in simple magnetic field configurations. We show that the first harmonic moments of the arrival distribution of UHECRs may be used to measure the absolute value of the helicity and its sign.