Ultra high energy cosmic rays from past activity of Andromeda galaxy (2211.04522v2)

Abstract: It is shown that the relativistic jets associated with the growth and past activity of the supermassive black hole in the Andromeda galaxy could be the main source of cosmic rays with energies above $10^{15}$ eV. Most of the cosmic ray energy is related to a bow shock of the jet that produces multi-PeV cosmic rays with light composition. The highest energy cosmic rays with heavy composition are produced in the jet itself. The spectra of energetic particles produced in Andromeda galaxy and propagated to the Earth are calculated and compared with observations.