Ultrahigh Energy Gamma-rays

Abstract

An analysis is made of the interactions of very high energy cosmic ray protons with the relict radiation in extragalactic space. Two situations are examined: gamma rays derived from neutral pions -mesons produced in collisions in a nonevolutionary situation and gamma rays from electron pairs produced at early epochs. It is shown that the ultrahigh energy gamma rays could conceivably be of high enough intensity to be detected. The flux of gamma rays from the second process is not far from the diffuse background that was reported.