Possible initial evidence of extragalactic cosmic-ray protons and the age of extragalactic cosmic-ray sources

Abstract

We have compared the recent cosmic background γ-ray observations with spectra predicted by various possible cosmic interactions. We find that the observed isotropic γ-rays with energies > 1 MeV can best be explained as being due to the decay of π°-mesons produced in extra-galactic cosmic-ray collisions. This interpretation indicates that extragalactic cosmic-ray sources were more active (or prevalent) in the past and started to form at a redshift of ∼ 100 corresponding to 107–108 years after the ‘big-bang’.For a present extragalactic gas density of 10−7–10−5 cm−3, the present extragalactic cosmic-ray flux is inferred to be 10−5–10−3 the galactic value.