Magnetized local supercluster and the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays - art. no. 023001.

A sufficiently magnetized local supercluster can explain the spectrum and a ngular distribution of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. We show that the spect rum of extragalactic cosmic rays with energies below similar to 10(20) eV m ay be due to the diffusive propagation in the local supercluster with field s of similar to 10(-8)-10(-7) G. Above, similar to 10(20) eV, cosmic rays p ropagate in an almost rectilinear way which is evidenced by the change in s hape of the spectrum at the highest energies. The fit to the spectrum requi res that at least one source be located relatively nearby at similar to 10- 15 Mpe away from the Milky Way. We discuss the origin of magnetic fields in the local supercluster and the observable predictions of this model. [S055 6-2821(98)08024-2].