On Big Bang Relics, the Neutrino Mass and the Cosmic Ray Spectrum

Abstract

It is shown that high energy features of the cosmic ray spectrum, in particular the kink around 4 PeV and the corresponding change in spectral index, may be explained from interactions between highly energetic protons and relic Big Bang antineutrinos, if the latter have a rest mass of about 0.4 eV/$c^2$. This explanation is supported by experimental data from extensive air-shower experiments.

Comments: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PRL