Extended gamma-ray sources around pulsars constrain the origin of the positron flux at Earth

Abeysekara, A. U.; Albert, A.; Alfaro, R.; Álvarez, C.; Álvarez, J. D.; Arceo, R.; Arteaga‐Velázquez, J. C.; Rojas, D. Avila; Solares, H. A. Ayala; Barber, A. S.; Bautista-Elivar, N.; Becerril, A.; Moreno, E.; BenZvi, S.; Berley, D.; Bernal, A.; Braun, J.; Brisbois, C.; Caballero‐Mora, K. S.; Capistrán, T.; Carramiñana, A.; Casanova, S.; Castillo, M.; Cotti, U.; Cotzomi, J.; León, S. Coutinõ de; León, C. de; Fuente, E. De la; Dingus, B. L.; DuVernois, M. A.; Díaz–Vélez, J. C.; Ellsworth, R. W.; Engel, K.; Enríquez-Rivera, O.; Fiorino, D. W.; Fraija, N.; García-González, J. A.; Garfias, F.; Gerhardt, M.; Muñoz, Alfonso; González, M. M.; Goodman, J. A.; Hampel-Arias, Z.; Harding, J. P.; Hernández, S.; Hernández-Almada, A.; Hinton, J. A.; Hona, B.; Hui, C. M.; Hüntemeyer, P.; Iriarte, A.; Jardin-Blicq, A.; Joshi, Vikas; Kaufmann, S.; Kieda, D.; Lara, A.; Lauer, R.; Lee, William H.; Lennarz, D.; Vargas, H. León; Linnemann, J.; Longinotti, A. L.; Luis-Raya, G.; Luna-García, R.; López-Coto, R.; Malone, K.; Marinelli, S. S.; Martı́nez, O.; Martínez-Castellanos, I.; Martínez-Castro, J.; Martínez-Huerta, H.; Matthews, J.; Miranda-Romagnoli, P.; Moreno, E.; Mostafá, M.; Nellen, L.; Newbold, M.; Nisa, M. U.; Noriega-Papaqui, R.; Pelayo, Rodrigo; Pretz, J.; Pérez‐Pérez, E. G.; Ren, Zhixiang; Rho, Chang Dong; Rivière, C.; Rosa‐González, D.; Rosenberg, M.; Ruiz-Velasco, E.; Salazar, H.; Greus, F. Salesa; Sandoval, A.; Schneider, M.; Schoorlemmer, Harm; Sinnis, G.; Smith, A. J.; Springer, R. W.; Surajbali, P.; Taboada, I.; Tibolla, O.; Tollefson, Kirsten; Torres, I.; Ukwatta, T. N.; Vianello, G.; Weisgarber, T.; Westerhoff, S.; Wisher, I. G.; Wood, J.; Yapici, T.; Yodh, G.; Younk, P.; Zepeda, A.; Zhou, H.; Guo, Fan; Hahn, Joachim; Li, Hui; Zhang, H. C.

doi:10.1126/science.aan4880

articleScienceNov 17, 2017GREEN OA

Extended gamma-ray sources around pulsars constrain the origin of the positron flux at Earth

AUA. U. Abeysekara AAA. Albert RAR. Alfaro CÁC. Álvarez JDJ. D. Álvarez

University of Utah · Los Alamos National Laboratory · +25 more institutions

PubMed

Indexed inarxivcrossrefpubmed

Abstract

The unexpectedly high flux of cosmic-ray positrons detected at Earth may originate from nearby astrophysical sources, dark matter, or unknown processes of cosmic-ray secondary production. We report the detection, using the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC), of extended tera-electron volt gamma-ray emission coincident with the locations of two nearby middle-aged pulsars (Geminga and PSR B0656+14). The HAWC observations demonstrate that these pulsars are indeed local sources of accelerated leptons, but the measured tera-electron volt emission profile constrains the diffusion of particles away from these sources to be much slower than previously assumed. We demonstrate that the leptons emitted by…

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Topics & keywords

Topics

Keywords

Physics
Cosmic ray
Cherenkov radiation
Gamma ray
Observatory
Astrophysics
Pulsar
Positron

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