Clusters of Dense Stars and the Injection of Cosmic Rays

Abstract

IN this article we wish to consider whether clusters of neutron stars could provide a mechanism for the injection of cosmic rays, particularly protons with injection energies greater than 200 MeV. Such a cluster might be indicated at the galactic centre if we accept Weber's results on gravitational waves¹, but Lynden-Bell² has also suggested the presence of dense matter at the centres of galaxies to explain the nonthermal emission, and there are other reasons why galaxies might contain dense matter. The reason for our interest in injection energies above 200 MeV is that the chief difficulty of the Fermi model of cosmic ray acceleration is that for the increase in cosmic ray energy by scattering off inhomogeneities in the magnetic field to exceed the loss due to nuclear interactions, the minimum injection energy for protons must be 200 MeV.