Stable superstring relics and ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

One of the most intriguing experimental results of recent years is the observation of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) above the GZK cutoff. Plausible candidates for the UHECR primaries are the decay products of a meta-stable matter state with mass of order O(10(12-15) GeV), which simultaneously is a good cold dark matter candidate. We study possible meta-stable matter states that arise from Wilson line breaking of GUT symmetries in semi-realistic heterotic string models. In the models that we study the exotic matter states can be classified according to patterns of SO(10) symmetry breaking. We show that cryptons, which are states that carry fractional electric charge +/-1/2, and are confined by a hidden gauge group cannot produce viable dark matter. This is due to the fact that, in addition to the lightest neutral bound state, cryptons give rise to meta-stable charged bound states. However, these states may still account for the UHECR events. We argue that the uniton, which is an exotic Standard Model quark but carries fractional U(1)(Z') charge, as well as the singleton, which is a Standard Model singlet with fractional U(1)(Z') charge, do provide viable dark matter candidates and can at the same time explain the observed UHECR events. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.