The Contribution of Fermi Gamma-Ray Pulsars to the local Flux of Cosmic-Ray Electrons and Positrons

We analyze the contribution of gamma-ray pulsars from the first Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) catalogue to the local flux of cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (e+e-). We present new distance estimates for all Fermi gamma-ray pulsars, based on the measured gamma-ray flux and pulse shape. We then estimate the contribution of gamma-ray pulsars to the local e+e- flux, in the context of a simple model for the pulsar e+e- emission. We find that 10 of the Fermi pulsars potentially contribute significantly to the measured e+e- flux in the energy range between 100 GeV and 1 TeV. Of the 10 pulsars, 2 are old EGRET gamma-ray pulsars, 2 pulsars were discovered with radio ephemerides, and 6 were discovered with the Fermi pulsar blind-search campaign. We argue that known radio pulsars fall in regions of parameter space where the e+e- contribution is predicted to be typically much smaller than from those regions where Fermi-LAT pulsars exist. However, comparing the Fermi gamma-ray flux sensitivity to the regions of pulsar parameter space where a significant e+e- contribution is predicted, we find that a few known radio pulsars that have not yet been detected by Fermi can also significantly contribute to the local e+e- flux if (i) they are closer than 2 kpc, and if (ii) they have a characteristic age on the order of one mega-year.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in JCA

Investigating potential tourism yield from visitor information centres

This report presents the findings of a study into the role played by Visitor Information Centres (VICs) in enhancing tourism yield within regional Australia. It has drawn upon both qualitative and quantitative data collected in New South Wales and Victoria to examine a number of issues. In all, sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted in both states with VIC coordinators, paid staff and volunteers. At the same time, visitors were intercepted at the VICs, resulting in 782 responses. The findings from this research indicate that VICs are important in promoting tourism and increasing tourist spend, particularly within regional Australia. While it is difficult to quantify the actual level of increased expenditure, it is clear that VICs have a pivotal role to play in maintaining and developing tourism products and the travel experience