Propagation of high-energy cosmic rays in extragalactic turbulent magnetic fields: Resulting energy spectrum and composition

Abstract

We extend previous studies of mixed-composition extragalactic cosmic-ray source models, investigating the influence of a non-negligible extragalactic magnetic field on the propagated cosmic-ray spectrum and composition. We study the transport of charged particles in turbulent fields and the transition from a ballistic to a diffusive propagation regime. We introduce a method allowing a fast integration of the particle trajectories, which allows us to calculate extragalactic cosmic-ray spectra in the general case, without using either the diffusive or the rectilinear approximation. We find that the main features of the mixed-composition models - regarding the interpretation of the ankle and the non-monotonous evolution of the average cosmic-ray mass - remain essentially unchanged as long as the magnetic field intensity does not exceed a few nG. © 2008 ESO.