COSMIC RAYS ABOVE THE 2ND KNEE FROM CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES

摘要

In clusters of galaxies, accretion and merger shocks are potential accelerators of high energy protons, as well as intracluster active galactic nuclei. We discuss the possibility that protons from cluster shocks make a significant contribution to the observed cosmic rays in the energy range between the second knee at -1017.5 eV and the ankle at - 1018.5 eV. The accompanying neutrino and gamma-ray signals could be detectable by upcoming telescopes such as IceCube/KM3Net and CTA, providing a test of this scenario as well as a probe of cosmic-ray confinement properties in clusters.