Published February 20, 2010 | Version v1
Journal article

IS COSMIC RAY ELECTRON EXCESS FROM PULSARS SPIKY OR SMOOTH?: CONTINUOUS AND MULTIPLE ELECTRON/POSITRON INJECTIONS

  • 1. Theory Center, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies, KEK (High Energy Accelerator Research Organization), 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba 305-0801 (Japan)

Description

We investigate the observed spectrum of cosmic ray electrons and positrons from astrophysical sources, especially pulsars, and the physical processes for making the spectrum spiky or smooth via continuous and multiple electron/positron injections. We find that (1) the average electron spectrum predicted from nearby pulsars is consistent with PAMELA, Fermi, and H.E.S.S. data. However, the ATIC/PPB-BETS peak around 500 GeV is hard to produce by the sum of multiple pulsar contributions and requires a single (or a few) energetic pulsar(s). (2) A continuous injection produces a broad peak and a high-energy tail above the peak, which can constrain the source duration (∼<105 years with the current data). (3) The H.E.S.S. data in the TeV range suggest that young sources with age less than ∼6 x 104 years are less energetic than ∼1048 erg. (4) We also expect a large dispersion in the TeV spectrum due to the small number of sources that may cause the high-energy cutoff inferred by H.E.S.S. and potentially provide a smoking gun for the astrophysical origin. These spectral diagnostics can be refined in the near future by the CALET experiments to discriminate different astrophysical and dark matter origins.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/710/2/958

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal
Journal Volume
710
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
p. 958-963
ISSN
0004-637X
CODEN
ASJOAB

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
41121930
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
ASTROPHYSICS; COSMIC RADIATION; ELECTRON SPECTRA; ELECTRONS; GEV RANGE 100-1000; NONLUMINOUS MATTER; POSITRONS; PULSARS; TEV RANGE
Descriptors DEC
ANTILEPTONS; ANTIMATTER; ANTIPARTICLES; COSMIC RADIO SOURCES; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; ENERGY RANGE; FERMIONS; GEV RANGE; IONIZING RADIATIONS; LEPTONS; MATTER; PHYSICS; RADIATIONS; SPECTRA