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...

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Những tác giả chính: Alves Batista, R, Saveliev, A
Định dạng: Journal article
Ngôn ngữ:English
Được phát hành: IOP Publishing 2019
Miêu tả
Tóm tắt: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.