Constraining the Extragalactic Magnetic Field: Auger Data Meet UHECR Propagation Modeling

Ala'a AL-Zetoun; Arjen van Vliet; Andrew M. Taylor; Walter Winter

Paper

Constraining the Extragalactic Magnetic Field: Auger Data Meet UHECR Propagation Modeling

Abstract

Recent analyses from the Pierre Auger Collaboration suggest correlations between the arrival directions of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) and catalogs of starburst galaxies (SGBs) and jetted active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We revisit these analyses using the same methodology as \auger , but explicitly incorporating UHECR deflections in turbulent extragalactic magnetic fields (EGMFs). We demonstrate that while for SBGs the same sources as for the generic \auger\ analysis dominate the catalog correlations, jetted AGNs are dominated by Centaurus~A when accounting for source distances and deflections. Using our framework, we derive 90\% confidence level upper limits on the local EGMF strength of 4.4~nG~Mpc

for SBGs and 6.7~nG~Mpc

for jetted AGNs. Assuming instead that the UHECR deflections predominantly arise from the Galactic magnetic field (GMF), we obtain a GMF upper limit of

G~kpc

for a Galactic halo size of 30~kpc.