A Method of Measuring Cosmic Magnetic Fields with Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray Data

Martin Erdmann, Peter Schiffer

Published 2009-04-30, updated 2010-02-02Version 2

We present a method to measure cosmic magnetic fields with ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We apply an advanced autocorrelation method to simulated UHECRs which includes their directional as well as energy information. Without explicit knowledge of the UHECR sources, such measurements are sensitive to the number of sources and to the magnetic field strength subjected to the UHECRs. Using a UHECR Monte Carlo model including sources, random walk propagation and a coherent deflection, we explain the procedure of reconstructing the allowed phase space of the model parameters from a simulated autocorrelation measurement.