Acceleration and survival of ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray nuclei in gamma-ray bursts and hypernovae

Recent results from the Pierre Auger Observatory hint that ultrahigh-energy cosmic-rays above an EeV energy may be composed of heavy nuclei rather than nucleons. This naturally leads to the questions of their origin and acceleration at the astrophysical objects. Gamma-ray bursts and hypernovae have been proposed to be the sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic-rays. We explore different physical conditions under which heavy nuclei may be accelerated and survive in the environment of these sources, and report our findings.