Evidence for correlated changes in the spectrum and composition of cosmic rays at extremely high energies
D. J. Bird(University of Delaware), S. C. Corbató(University of Utah), H. Y. Dai(University of Adelaide), B. R. Dawson(University of Adelaide), J. W. Elbert(University of Utah), T. K. Gaisser(University of Delaware), K. D. Green(University of Utah), M. Huang(University of Adelaide), D. Kieda(University of Adelaide), Seung Hwan Ko(University of Delaware), C. G. Larsen(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), E. C. Loh(University of Delaware), M. Luo(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), M. H. Salamon(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), D. L. Smith(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), P. Sokolsky(University of Delaware), P. Sommers(University of Utah), Todor Stanev(University of Delaware), J. K. K. Tang(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), S. B. Thomas(University of Utah), S. Tilav(University of Delaware)
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Abstract
The Utah Fly's Eye detector has revealed a change in the cosmic ray composition which is correlated with structure in the all-particle energy spectrum. The data can be fitted by a simple model of a steep power law spectrum of heavy nuclei which is overtaken at high energies by a flatter spectrum of protons. The transition occurs near ${10}^{18.5}$ eV. Anisotropy is not detected, so the high-rigidity particles above the transition energy do not originate in the disk of the Galaxy. An outstanding event of 3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{20}$ eV implies that the highest energy particles originate in the contemporary era of the Universe.
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