  (Abridged) Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory (Auger) provide
evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays (CRs) with
energies >57 EeV that suggests a correlation with the positions of AGN located
within ~75 Mpc. A detailed study of the sample of AGN whose positions are
located within 3.2 degrees of the CR events (and extending our analysis out to
~150 Mpc) shows that most of them are classified as Seyfert 2 and
low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) galaxies whose properties
do not differ substantially from other local AGN of the same types. Therefore,
if the production of the highest energy CRs is persistent in nature, i.e.,
operates in a single object on long (>Myr) timescales, the claimed correlation
between the CR events observed by Auger and local active galaxies should be
considered as resulting from a chance coincidence. Additionally, most of the
selected sources do not show significant jet activity, and hence, in most
conservative scenarios, there are no reasons for expecting them to accelerate
CRs up to the highest energies, ~10^20 eV. A future analysis has to take into
account AGN morphology and may yield a correlation with a larger deflection
angle and/or more distant sources. We further argue that the nearby radio
galaxy NGC 5128 (Cen A) alone could be associated with at least 4 events due to
its large radio extent, and PKS 1343-60 (Cen B), another nearby radio galaxy,
can be associated with more than 1 event due to its proximity to the Galactic
plane and, correspondingly, the stronger Galactic magnetic field the UHECRs
encounter during propagation to the Earth. Future gamma-ray observations (by,
e.g., Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and HESS) may provide additional clues
to the nature of the accelerators of the UHECRs in the local Universe.
