We re-examine the possibility of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays being accelerated in nearby dormant quasars. We particularize our study to heavy nuclei to accommodate the spectrum and nuclear composition recently reported by the Pierre Auger Collaboration. Particle acceleration is driven by the Blandford–Znajek mechanism, which wires the dormant spinning black holes as Faraday unipolar dynamos. We demonstrate that energy losses are dominated by photonuclear interactions on the ambient photon fields. We argue that the local dark fossils of the past quasar activity can be classified on the basis of how source parameters (mass of the central engine and photon background surrounding the accelerator) impact the photonuclear interaction. In this classification it is possible to distinguish two unequivocal type of sources: those in which nuclei are completely photodisintegrated before escaping the acceleration region and those in which photopion production is the major energy damping mechanism. We further argue that the secondary nucleons from the photodisintegrated nuclei (which have a steep spectral index at injection) can populate the energy region below “the ankle” feature in the cosmic ray spectrum, whereas heavy and medium mass nuclei (with a harder spectral index) populate the energy region beyond “the ankle”, all the way to the high energy end of the spectrum. In addition, we show that five potential quasar remnants from our cosmic backyard correlate with the hot-spot observed by the Telescope Array.

我们重新检查了超高能宇宙射线在附近休眠类星体中加速的可能性。我们将研究重点放在重核上，以适应Pierre Auger合作社最近报告的光谱和核成分。粒子加速是由Blandford-Znajek机制驱动的，该机制将休眠的旋转黑洞连接成法拉第单极发电机。我们证明能量损失是由环境光子场上的光核相互作用主导的。我们认为，过去类星体活动的局部暗化石可以根据源参数（中央引擎的质量和加速器周围的光子背景）如何影响光核相互作用进行分类。在这种分类中，可以区分两种明确类型的源：那些原子核在逃逸到加速区之前已经完全光分解了，而那些以光子产生是主要的能量阻尼机制。我们进一步认为，来自光分解核的次级核子（在注入时具有陡峭的光谱指数）可以填充宇宙射线光谱中“踝”特征以下的能量区域，而重质量核和中等质量核（具有较硬的光谱指数） ）填充“脚踝”以外的能量区域，一直到光谱的高能量端。此外，我们表明，来自宇宙后院的五种潜在类星体残迹与望远镜阵列观测到的热点相关。我们进一步认为，来自光分解核的次级核子（在注入时具有陡峭的光谱指数）可以填充宇宙射线光谱中“踝”特征以下的能量区域，而重质量核和中等质量核（具有较硬的光谱指数） ）填充“脚踝”以外的能量区域，一直到光谱的高能量端。此外，我们表明，来自宇宙后院的五种潜在类星体残迹与望远镜阵列观测到的热点相关。我们进一步认为，来自光分解核的次级核子（在注入时具有陡峭的光谱指数）可以填充宇宙射线光谱中“踝”特征以下的能量区域，而重质量核和中等质量核（具有较硬的光谱指数） ）填充“脚踝”以外的能量区域，一直到光谱的高能量端。此外，我们显示了来自宇宙后院的五种潜在类星体残留与望远镜阵列观测到的热点相关。一直到光谱的高能量端。此外，我们表明，来自宇宙后院的五种潜在类星体残迹与望远镜阵列观测到的热点相关。一直到光谱的高能量端。此外，我们表明，来自宇宙后院的五种潜在类星体残迹与望远镜阵列观测到的热点相关。