On the Very-High-Energy Gamma Ray Spectra from Typical Supernovae Remnants

Recently measured VHE gamma ray spectra from supernovae remnants (SNRs) are best fit by power laws with an exponential cutoff. But this feature does not occur at the `knee-equivalent' energy at which VHE gamma ray spectra are expected to reflect the `knee' in the otherwise featureless cosmic ray spectrum. In this article, the VHE gamma ray feature is explained as a consequence of a recently deduced quantum effect. The effect distinguishes `trajectory energy' from `particle state energy' and requires that the particle state energy depends strongly on gravitational potential at very high energies. Based on this effect and the observed CR spectrum, a tight two-parameter fit is obtained to the combined VHE gamma ray spectra of SNRs RX J1713.7-3946 and RX J0852.0-4622 and the Galactic Center ridge.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables, 1 problem set. Equations and conclusions unchanged in Version 2. Thanks to the referee and a reader, Version 2 has added discussions of (i) the reference frame, (ii) why the Galaxy doesn't contribute, (iii) how electrons can behave otherwise, (iv) why photons can be included. Typos, minor rewording, revised problem se

Testing the Alignment Tendency of Some Polarized Radio Sources

Measuring the alignment of polarized radio sources requires comparing vectors at different locations on the sky, i.e. on a sphere. A test of alignment is derived herein. While both large scale and coordinate independent, the test avoids the mathematical subtleties involved when comparing vectors at different locations on a curved surface. Applied to 5442 sources drawn from a published catalog, the analysis finds a level of alignment that would be matched by only 7% to 14% of data sets with the same sources but with random polarization directions. The locations of the sources involved and the directions that the vectors favor and the regions avoided are described as well.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figure