Date of Award

May 2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Physics

First Advisor

Luis Anchordoqui

Committee Members

Jolien Creighton, Xavier Siemens

Keywords

Anisotropy, Cosmic Rays, Multimessenger, Neutrinos, Neutrons, Uhecrs

Abstract

The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays is still unknown. The discovery of their sources will reveal the workings of the most energetic astrophysical accelerators in the universe. Recent international efforts have brought us closer to unveiling this mystery. Possible ultra-high energy cosmic ray sources have been narrowed down with the confirmation of an "ankle" and the GZKlike spectral feature at the high-end of the energy spectrum. A clear resolution of the ultra-high energy mystery calls for the search of anisotropies in the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays. In this thesis, we adopt the so-called "multi-messenger" approach to search for both large-scale and point-like source anisotropic features, using data collected with the Pierre Auger Observatory.

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