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arxiv: hep-ph/9802304 · v1 · submitted 1998-02-12 · ✦ hep-ph

Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays, Superheavy Long-Living Particles, and Matter Creation after Inflation

classification ✦ hep-ph
keywords cosmiccut-offspectrumenergyinflationlong-livingmatterparticles
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The highest energy cosmic rays, above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cut-off of cosmic ray spectrum, may be produced in decays of superheavy long-living X-particles. We conjecture that these particles may be produced naturally in the early Universe from vacuum fluctuations during inflation and may constitute a considerable fraction of Cold Dark Matter. We predict a new cut-off in the UHE cosmic ray spectrum E_{cut-off} < m_inflaton \approx 10^{13} GeV, the exact position of the cut-off and the shape of the cosmic ray spectrum beyond the GZK cut-off being determined by the QCD quark/gluon fragmentation. The Pierre Auger Project installation might discover this phenomenon.

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