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Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays from tidally-ignited white dwarfs

Rafael Alves Batista1,* and Joseph Silk1,2,3,4,†

  • 1Department of Physics—Astrophysics, University of Oxford, DWB, Keble Road, OX1 3RH Oxford, United Kingdom
  • 2Institut dAstrophysique de Paris, 98 bis bd Arago, F-75014 Paris, France
  • 3The Johns Hopkins University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
  • 4AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/IRFU, CNRS, University Paris 7, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

  • *rafael.alvesbatista@physics.ox.ac.uk
  • †joseph.silk@physics.ox.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. D 96, 103003 – Published 6 November, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.96.103003

Abstract

Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) can be accelerated by tidal disruption events of stars by black holes. We suggest a novel mechanism for UHECR acceleration wherein white dwarfs (WDs) are tidally compressed by intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), leading to their ignition and subsequent explosion as a supernova. Cosmic rays accelerated by the supernova may receive an energy boost when crossing the accretion-powered jet. The rate of encounters between WDs and IMBHs can be relatively high, as the number of IMBHs may be substantially augmented once account is taken of their likely presence in dwarf galaxies. Here we show that this kind of tidal disruption event naturally provides an intermediate composition for the observed UHECRs, and suggest that dwarf galaxies and globular clusters are suitable sites for particle acceleration to ultrahigh energies.

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Phys. Rev. D 96, 103003– Published 6 November, 2017
  • Received 20 June 2017

© 2017 American Physical Society

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