Multi-messenger constraints to the local emission of cosmic-ray electrons

The data on the inclusive flux of cosmic positrons and electrons ($e^++e^{-}$) have been recently collected from GeV to tens of TeV energies by several experiments with unprecedented precision. In addition, the Fermi-LAT Collaboration has provided a new energy spectrum for the upper bounds on the $e^++e^{-}$ dipole anisotropy. This observable can bring information on the emission from local Galactic sources, notably measured with high precision at radio frequencies. We develop a framework in which $e^-$ and $e^+$ measured at Earth from GeV up to tens of TeV energies have a composite origin. A dedicated analysis is deserved to Vela YZ and Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnants (SNRs), for which we consider two different models for the injection of $e^-$. We investigate the consistency of these models using the three physical observables: the radio flux from Vela YZ and Cygnus Loop at all the available frequencies, the $e^++e^-$ flux from five experiments from the GeV to tens of TeV energy, the $e^++e^-$ dipole anisotropy upper limits from 50 GeV to about 1 TeV. We find that the radio flux for these nearby SNRs strongly constraints the properties of the injection electron spectrum, partially compatible with the looser constraints derived from the $e^+ + e^-$ flux data. We also perform a multi-wavelength multi-messenger analysis by fitting simultaneously the radio flux on Vela YZ and Cygnus Loop and the $e^+ + e^-$ flux, and checking the outputs against the $e^+ + e^-$ dipole anisotropy data. Remarkably, we find a model which is compatible with all the $e^++e^-$ flux data, the radio data for Vela YZ and Cygnus Loop, and with the anisotropy upper bounds. We show the severe constraints imposed by the most recent data on the $e^+ + e^-$ dipole anisotropy.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in the JCAP. Changes in v3: discussion and results extended to include an evolutionary model for the injection of cosmic-ray electrons in SNR

Novel interpretation of the latest AMS-02 cosmic-ray electron spectrum

The latest AMS-02 data on cosmic ray electrons show a break in the energy spectrum around 40 GeV, with a change in the slope of about 0.1. We perform a combined fit to the newest AMS-02 positron and electron flux data above 10 GeV using a semi-analytical diffusion model where sources includes production of pairs from pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe), electrons from supernova remnants (SNRs) and both species from spallation of hadronic cosmic rays with interstellar medium atoms. We demonstrate that within our setup the change of slope in the AMS-02 electron data is well explained by the interplay between the flux contributions from SNRs and from PWNe. In fact, the relative contribution to the data of these two populations changes by a factor of about 13 from 10 to 1000 GeV. The PWN contribution has a significance of at least $4\sigma$, depending on the model used for the propagation, interstellar radiation field and energy losses. We checked the stability of this result against low-energy effects by solving numerically the transport equation. as well as adding possible breaks in the injection spectrum of SNRs. The effect of the energy losses alone, when the inverse Compton scattering is properly computed within a fully numerical treatment of the Klein-Nishina cross section, cannot explain the break in the $e^-$ flux data, as recently proposed in the literature.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures and supplemental material. Phys.Rev.D 104 (2021) 8, 08301

Evidences of low-diffusion bubbles around Galactic pulsars

Recently, a few-degrees extended $\gamma$-ray halo in the direction of Geminga pulsar has been detected by HAWC, Milagro and Fermi-LAT. These observations can be interpreted with positrons ($e^+$) and electrons ($e^-$) accelerated by Geminga pulsar wind nebula (PWN), released in a Galactic environment with a low diffusion coefficient ($D_0$), and inverse Compton scattering (ICS) with the interstellar radiation fields. We inspect here how the morphology of the ICS $\gamma$-ray flux depends on the energy, the pulsar age and distance, and the strength and extension of the low-diffusion bubble. In particular we show that $\gamma$-ray experiments with a peak of sensitivity at TeV energies are the most promising ones to detect ICS halos. We perform a study of the sensitivity of HAWC, HESS and the future CTA experiment finding that, with efficiencies of the order of a few %, the first two experiments should have already detected a few tens of ICS halos while the latter will increase the number of detections by a factor of 4. We then consider a sample of sources associated to PWNe and detected in the HESS Galactic plane survey and in the second HAWC catalog. We use the information available in these catalogs for the $\gamma$-ray spatial morphology and flux of these sources to inspect the value of $D_0$ around them and the $e^{\pm}$ injection spectrum. All sources are detected as extended with a $\gamma$-ray emission extended about $15-80$ pc. Assuming that most of the $e^{\pm}$ accelerated by these sources have been released in the interstellar medium, the diffusion coefficient is $2-30 \cdot 10^{26}$ cm$^2$/s at 1 TeV, i.e. two orders of magnitude smaller than the value considered to be the average in the Galaxy. These observations imply that Galactic PWNe have low-diffusion bubbles with a size of at least 80 pc.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures. Phys.Rev.D 101 (2020) 10, 10303

Contribution of pulsars to cosmic-ray positrons in light of recent observation of inverse-Compton halos

The hypothesis that pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) can significantly contribute to the excess of the positron ($e^+$) cosmic-ray flux has been consolidated after the observation of a $\gamma$-ray emission at TeV energies of a few degree size around Geminga and Monogem PWNe, and at GeV energies for Geminga at a much larger extension. The $\gamma$-ray halos around these PWNe are interpreted as due to electrons ($e^-$) and $e^+$ accelerated and escaped by their PWNe, and inverse Compton scattering low-energy photons of the interstellar radiation fields. The extension of these halos suggests that the diffusion around these PWNe is suppressed by two orders of magnitude with respect to the average in the Galaxy. We implement a two-zone diffusion model for the propagation of $e^+$ accelerated by the Galactic population of PWNe. We consider pulsars from the ATNF catalog and build up simulations of the PWN Galactic population. In both scenarios, we find that within a two-zone diffusion model, the total contribution from PWNe and secondary $e^+$ is at the level of AMS-02 data, for an efficiency of conversion of the pulsar spin down energy in $e^\pm$ of $\eta\sim0.1$. For the simulated PWNe, a $1\sigma$ uncertainty band is determined, which is of at least one order of magnitude from 10 GeV up to few TeV. The hint for a decreasing $e^+$ flux at TeV energies is found, even if it is strongly connected to the chosen value of the radius of the low diffusion bubble around each source.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Figures 2, 3 and 5 updated. Results unchange

Frequent, complex and vivid dream-like/hallucinatory experiences during NREM sleep parasomnia episodes

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