Possible Clustering of the Most Energetic Cosmic Rays within a Limited Space Angle Observed by the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array

Abstract

Accumulated data of the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA) indicate that arrival directions of a significant fraction of extremely high energy cosmic rays (EHECR) are uniformly distributed over the observable sky. However, three pairs of showers with angular separation of less than 2.5\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} within the pair are observed among the 36 events above 40 EeV ( $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{19}\mathrm{eV}$), corresponding to a chance probability of 2.9% from uniform distribution. It should be noted that two pairs of them are observed to be within 2.0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} of the supergalactic plane.