Extragalactic ultra high energy cosmic rays, I. Contribution from hot spots in FR-II galaxies

Abstract

We consider the hot spots in FR-II galaxies as sites of first order Fermi acceleration of protons to the highest energies observed in cosmic rays. We estimate the attainable maximum energy in the hot spot region allowed by the canonical physical conditions, which are found from radio-to-optical observations (Meisenheimer et al. 1989, A&A). We calculate observable the proton flux and spectrum from this sources, using all knowledge about source distibution (Peacock 1985, MNRAS) and particle transport in the microwave background (Berezinsky and Grigor'eva 1988, A&A). We get excellent agreement with the cosmic ray data points at ultra high energies. THIS PAPER GIVES THE FUNDAMENTAL MODEL FOR THE EXPLANATION OF THE NEW AIR SHOWER DATA OF THE PROTON COMPONENT OF THE COSMIC RAY SPECTRUM BETWEEN 0.1 AND 1 EeV (Gaisser et al. 1992, Phys. Rev. D in press, Stanev et al. 1992, A&A submitted), which is subject of a subsequent paper (part II, Rachen and Biermann 1992, A&A submitted).