Lorentz Invariance Violation and the Origin of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays
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UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO INSTITUTO DE FÍSICA DE SÃO CARLOS Rodrigo Guedes Lang Phenomenology of the propagation of astroparticles: Lorentz invariance violation and the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays São Carlos 2020 Rodrigo Guedes Lang Phenomenology of the propagation of astroparticles: Lorentz invariance violation and the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays Thesis presented to the Graduate Program in Physics at the Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, to obtain the degree of Doctor in Science. Concentration area: Theoretical and Experi- mental Physics Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Luiz Vitor de Souza Filho Corrected version (Original version available on the Program Unit) São Carlos 2020 I AUTHORIZE THE REPRODUCTION AND DISSEMINATION OF TOTAL OR PARTIAL COPIES OF THIS DOCUMENT, BY CONVENTIONAL OR ELECTRONIC MEDIA FOR STUDY OR RESEARCH PURPOSE, SINCE IT IS REFERENCED. Lang, Rodrigo Guedes Phenomenology of the propagation of astroparticles: Lorentz invariance violation and the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays / Rodrigo Guedes Lang; advisor Luiz Vitor de Souza Filho - corrected version -- São Carlos 2020. 138 p. Thesis (Doctorate - Graduate Program in Theoretical and Experimental Physics) -- Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo - Brasil , 2020. 1. UHECR. 2. Gamma rays. 3. Lorentz invariance violation. 4. UHECR sources. 5. Anisotropy. I. Souza Filho, Luiz Vitor de, advisor. II. Title. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is a scientific thesis. Science, however, is done by people and a person can only be as good as the people in their life. I am lucky to have had numerous great people who directly or indirectly influenced my life and my work so far. I am very thankful to each and every one of them and acknowledge here some of those: • Above all, my family, who is by far the main foundation behind my achievements. In particular, my parents, Marisa and Hilton, and my brother, Rafael. Ever since I can remember, I have always been encouraged to keep feeding my curiosity and desire to understand things, while still being remembered to enjoy life and do my best to make the lives of people around me better. I am privileged to have a supportive family and I am sure that any personal or professional accomplishments in my life were only possible because they never hesitated to instigate me not to be afraid of being myself and keep following my dreams; • Vitor, who has guided me through the ways of science for the last 9 years, trusting me and trying to find the paths for me to achieve my best potential. I am lucky that, in a system in which many students are treated as gears in machinery, I was advised by someone who looks at his students as people with their own history and a long future ahead; • Andrew, who has taught me to look at physics with different eyes and allowed me to open many doors to the unknowns of the Universe; • São Carlos Astrophysics Group, the best astrophysics group in the whole universe. I doubt that I will ever again find such a fantastic and heart-warming work environment and I am sure that in the last 9 years I wasn’t working with colleagues, but with friends that I have made for life. Between the many who have come and gone, leaving their mark on the group, I would like to point three who were essential: – Humberto, who has contributed to this thesis with much more than just being our main scientific collaborator, but with being a close friend; – Raul, who since the beginning has been of my main role models in astrophysics and who has helped me through a lot more than just work; – Pedro, the brother (a younger one, for sure) that astrophysics has gifted me with; • My friends, of whom I am very proud and who have always lifted me up and made my life light and easy. In special, I would like to thank: – Karen, who has taught me (and made me promise never to forget) that before the physicist comes the human being, and before dealing with numbers and data, we will always be dealing with people with emotions and feelings; – AdS (and aggregates), who have been crucial in shaping the adult version of myself and who became my family in a new city (and now spread all over the world), making me feel like I have never left home; – My friends from TdR, with whom I have now spent (at least) half of my life and became an indissociable part of who I am; – Gamma, who won’t be able to read this, but has always been on my side and helped me through every day; • Every teacher and professor that I have had in my life. You have the most important profession of humanity and if I came all the way until here is because I was taught by fantastic people who only made my curiosity and interest in understanding the Universe grow; • All the staff from IFSC, who has always been extremely competent and hardworking, making life at the institute much easier for many of us; • DESY-Zeuthen, who has provided me with a first-class infrastructure for developing my work while visiting them. In special, the theory group, in which I was much welcomed and learned a lot; • The population of Brazil and of the state of São Paulo, who made this work possible through: – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), through grants No.2015/15897-1, No. 2016/24943-0 and No. 2019/01653-4; – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); – National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC/MCTI, Brazil) for pro- viding HPC resources of the SDumont supercomputer, which have contributed to the research results reported within this paper. “I’m doing science and I’m still alive” GLaDOS - Aperture Science ABSTRACT LANG, R. G. Phenomenology of the propagation of astroparticles: Lorentz invariance violation and the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. 2020. 138p. Thesis (Doctor in Science) - Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, 2020. In this thesis, we use a phenomenological approach to the propagation of astroparticles in order to study two relevant topics in astrophysics: Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) and the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR). Lorentz invariance is proposed as a fundamental symmetry of nature according to relativity. However, quantum gravity models assume or accommodate some level of LIV. We present a broad study of the potential of testing LIV with different data sets and experiments in astroparticle physics. Novel techniques are proposed for testing LIV using TeV gamma-ray and UHECR data, in special using data from Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes and the Pierre Auger Observatory. No signature of LIV is found and restraining limits are imposed. We present a review of the most common astrophysical tests and a compilation of the currently most restrictive limits of LIV. We also address the long-lasting question about the origin of UHECR. CR are charged particles and, thus, magnetic fields mask the information about the position of their sources. We study how the energy spectrum, composition and distribution of arrival directions can be used to retrieve information about the source distribution. Constraints on the maximum distance of the nearest UHECR source are imposed. We study the arising of a large-scale anisotropy in the form of a dipole measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory and build an understanding of the evolution with energy of the dipole strength. Keywords: UHECR. Gamma rays. Lorentz invariance violation. UHECR sources. Anisotropy. RESUMO LANG, R. G. Fenomenologia da propagação de astropartículas: violação da invariância de Lorentz e a origem de raios de cósmicos de altíssima energia. 2020. 138p. Tese (Doutor em Ciências) - Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, 2020. Nesta tese, nós usamos um tratamento fenomenológico para a propagação de astropartículas com o intuito de estudar dois relevantes tópicos em astrofísica: violação da invariância de Lorentz (LIV, do inglês Lorentz invariance violation) e a origem de raios cósmicos de altíssima energia (UHECR, do inglês ultra-high energy cosmic rays). Em relatividade, a invariância de Lorentz é proposta como uma simetria fundamental da natureza. Todavia, modelos de gravitação quântica assumem ou acomodam um certo nível de LIV. Nós apresentamos um amplo estudo do potencial de se testar LIV com diferentes conjuntos de dados e experimentos em astrofísica de partículas. Técnicas inovadoras são propostas para testar LIV usando raios gama com energia da ordem de TeV e UHECR, em especial usando dados de telescópios atmosféricos de Cherenkov e do Observatório Pierre Auger. Nenhum sinal de LIV é encontrado e limites restritivos são impostos. Nós apresentamos uma revisão dos testes de LIV mais comuns em astrofísica de partículas e uma coleção dos limites de LIV mais restritivos da atualidade. Nós também tratamos a questão sobre a origem dos UHECR. Raios cósmicos são partículas carregadas e, portanto, campos magnéticos mascaram a informação sobre a posição de suas fontes. Nós estudamos como o espectro de energia, a composição e a distribuição de direções de chegada podem ser usados para recuperar a informação sobre a distribuição de fontes. Restrições na máxima distância da fonte mais próxima de UHECR são impostas. Nós estudamos o surgimento de uma anisotropia de larga escala na forma de um dipolo medida pelo Observatório Pierre Auger e desenvolvemos um entendimento da evolução com energia da intensidade desse dipolo. Palavras-chave: Raios cósmicos de altíssima energia. Raios gama. Violação da invariância de Lorentz. Fontes de raios cósmicos de altíssima energia. Anisotropia. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 – Compilation of the energy spectrum of astroparticles measured by several experiments in the past decades.