Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Recent measurements of the Geminga and $\mathrm{B}0656+14$ pulsars by the gamma-ray telescope HAWC (along with earlier measurements by Milagro) indicate that these objects generate significant fluxes of very high-energy electrons. In this paper, we use the very high-energy gamma-ray intensity and spectrum of these pulsars to calculate and constrain their expected contributions to the local cosmic-ray positron spectrum. Among models that are capable of reproducing the observed characteristics of the gamma-ray emission, we find that pulsars invariably produce a flux of high-energy positrons that is similar in spectrum and magnitude to the positron fraction measured by PAMELA and AMS-02. In light of this result, we conclude that it is very likely that pulsars provide the dominant contribution to the long perplexing cosmic-ray positron excess.
Authors: Dan Hooper, Ilias Cholis, Tim Linden, Ke Fang
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2594841011