The effect of highly structured cosmic magnetic fields on ultra-high energy cosmic ray propagation

The possibility that the magnetic field is strongly correlated with the large-scale structure of the universe has been recently considered in the literature. In this scenario the intergalactic magnetic field has a strong (μG) regular component spanning tens of Mpc but localized in sheets and filaments, while the vast voids in between are almost free of magnetic field. If true, this could have important consequences on the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, and severely affect our capacity of doing astronomy with charged particles. A quantitative discussion of these effects is given in the present work. Subject headings: Cosmic Rays — large-scale structure — magnetic fields