ENERGY SPECTRUM AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ULTRAHIGH ENERGY COSMIC RAYS FROM SEMI-RELATIVISTIC HYPERNOVAE

It has been suggested that hypernova remnants, with a substantial amount of energy in semi-relativistic ejecta, can accelerate intermediate mass or heavy nuclei to ultrahigh energies and provide a sufficient amount of energy in cosmic rays to account for the observed flux. We here calculate the expected energy spectrum and chemical composition of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays from such semi-relativistic hypernovae. With a chemical composition equal to that of the hypernova ejecta and a flat or hard spectrum for cosmic rays at the sources, the spectrum and composition of the propagated cosmic rays observed at the Earth can be compatible with the measurements by the Pierre Auger Observatory.