Leakage lifetime of cosmic-ray electrons in the Galaxy

From data on the synchrotron emission in the Galactic magnetic field, the electron spectrum below a few GeV is obtained. Taking this to be the injection spectrum of electrons a model for their propagation in the Galaxy is developed. The model is based on a continuity formalism in which the confinement time for particles in Galactic volume is energy dependent. The expected spectrum of electrons near the sun is derived over the range 0.1-103 GeV for different lifetime distribution functions corresponding to different classes of models for particle confinement. From comparison with observations, a mean lifetime varying as 5 x 107 (E/5.5 GeV)sup(-0.3) years, for electron energies above 5.5 GeV, is deduced. (author)