Non-parametric Bayesian reconstruction of Galactic magnetic fields using Information Field Theory: The inclusion of line-of-sight information in ultra-high energy cosmic ray backtracking
| Autor: | Tsouros, Alexandros, Bendre, Abhijit B., Edenhofer, Gordian, Enßlin, Torsten, Frank, Philipp, Mastorakis, Michalis, Pavlidou, Vasiliki |
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| Rok vydání: | 2024 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | A&A 690, A102 (2024) |
| Druh dokumentu: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361/202449933 |
| Popis: | (abridged) Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are extremely energetic charged particles with energies surpassing $10^{18}$ eV. Their sources remain elusive, obscured by deflections caused by the Galactic magnetic field (GMF). This challenge is further complicated by our limited understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the GMF, as current GMF observations consist primarily of quantities integrated along the line-of-sight (LOS). Nevertheless, data from upcoming stellar polarisation surveys along with Gaia's stellar parallax data are expected to yield local GMF measurements.. In this work, we employ methods of Bayesian statistical inference in order to sample the posterior distribution of the GMF within part of the Galaxy. By assuming a known rigidity and arrival direction of an UHECR, we backtrack its trajectory through various GMF configurations drawn from the posterior distribution. Our objective is to rigorously evaluate our algorithm's performance in scenarios that closely mirror the setting of expected future applications. In pursuit of this, we condition the posterior to synthetic integrated LOS measurements of the GMF, in addition to synthetic local POS-component measurements. In this proof of concept work, we assume the ground truth to be a magnetic field produced by a dynamo simulation of the Galactic ISM. Our results demonstrate that for all locations of the observed arrival direction on the POS, our algorithm is able to substantially update our knowledge on the original arrival direction of UHECRs with rigidity $E/Z = 5 \times 10^{19}$ eV, even in the case of complete absence of LOS information. If integrated data is included in the inference, then the regions of the celestial sphere where the maximum error occurs diminishes greatly. Even in those regions the maximum error is diminished by a factor of about $3$ in the specific setting studied. Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures |
| Databáze: | arXiv |
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