Correlation between Compact Radio Quasars and Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays

Abstract

Some proposals to account for the highest energy cosmic rays predict that they should point to their sources. We study the five highest energy events ( $E>\mathrm{}{10}^{20}\mathrm{eV}$) and find they are all aligned with compact, radio-loud quasars. The probability that these alignments are coincidental is 0.005, given the accuracy of the position measurements and the rarity of such sources. The source quasars have redshifts between 0.3 and 2.2. If the correlation pointed out here is confirmed by further data, the primary must be a new hadron or one produced by a novel mechanism.