White Dwarf Pulsars as Possible Cosmic Ray Electron-Positron Factories

Abstract

We suggest that white dwarf (WD) pulsars can compete with neutron star (NS) pulsars for producing the excesses of cosmic ray electrons/positrons observed by the PAMELA, ATIC/PPB-BETS, Fermi and HESS experiments. A merger of two WDs leads to a rapidly spinning WD with a rotational energy comparable to the NS case. The birth rate is also similar, providing the right energy budget for the cosmic ray electrons/positrons. Applying the NS theory, we suggest that the WD pulsars can in principle produce electrons/positrons up to 10 TeV. In contrast to the NS model, the adiabatic and radiative energy losses of electrons/positrons are negligible since their injection continues after the expansion of the pulsar wind nebula, and hence it is enough that a fraction 1% of WDs are magnetized as observed. The long activity also increases the number of nearby sources, which reduces the Poisson fluctuation in the flux. The WD pulsars could dominate the quickly cooling electrons/positrons above TeV energy as a second spectral bump or even surpass the NS pulsars in the observing energy range 10 GeV - 1 TeV, providing a background for the dark matter signals and a nice target for the future AMS-02, CALET and CTA experiment.

20 pages, 7 figures and 1 table

References in corpus (40)

• Observation of an anomalous positron abundance in the cosmic radiation
• A Theory of Dark Matter
• Measurement of the Cosmic Ray e+ plus e- spectrum from 20 GeV to 1 TeV with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• A new measurement of the antiproton-to-proton flux ratio up to 100 GeV in the cosmic radiation
• PAMELA results on the cosmic-ray antiproton flux from 60 MeV to 180 GeV in kinetic energy
• Fermi LAT observations of cosmic-ray electrons from 7 GeV to 1 TeV
• The origin of the positron excess in cosmic rays
• On possible interpretations of the high energy electron-positron spectrum measured by the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Decaying Dark Matter can explain the electron/positron excesses
• Inverse Compton Origin of the Hard X-Ray and Soft Gamma-Ray Emission from the Galactic Ridge
• Gamma-ray and radio tests of the e+e- excess from DM annihilations
• PAMELA data and leptonically decaying dark matter
• Constraints on Dark Matter Annihilation in Clusters of Galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Pulsars versus Dark Matter Interpretation of ATIC/PAMELA
• PAMELA Positron Excess as a Signal from the Hidden Sector
• High-energy antiprotons from old supernova remnants
• Testing astrophysical models for the PAMELA positron excess with cosmic ray nuclei
• High Energy Cosmic Rays from the Decay of Gravitino Dark Matter
• Gamma rays and positrons from a decaying hidden gauge boson
• Inhomogeneity in the Supernova Remnant Distribution as the Origin of the PAMELA Anomaly
• An ultra-massive fast-spinning white dwarf in a peculiar binary system
• $e^{\pm }$ Excesses in the Cosmic Ray Spectrum and Possible Interpretations
• Cosmic rays from Leptonic Dark Matter
• The PAMELA and ATIC Excesses From a Nearby Clump of Neutralino Dark Matter
• A Cosmic Ray Positron Anisotropy due to Two Middle-Aged, Nearby Pulsars?
• Discriminating different scenarios to account for the cosmic $e^{\pm }$ excess by synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation
• Dark matter and pulsar signals for Fermi LAT, PAMELA, ATIC, HESS and WMAP data
• Decaying Dark Matter as a Probe of Unification and TeV Spectroscopy
• High-energy Cosmic-Ray Positrons from Hidden-Gauge-Boson Dark Matter
• Cosmic Positron Signature from Dark Matter in the Littlest Higgs Model with T-parity
• Cosmic ray production in supernova remnants including reacceleration: the secondary to primary ratio
• Decaying Hidden Gauge Boson and the PAMELA and ATIC/PPB-BETS Anomalies
• Anomaly Induced Dark Matter Decay and PAMELA/ATIC Experiments
• R-violating Decay of Wino Dark Matter and electron/positron Excesses in the PAMELA/Fermi Experiments
• Cosmic ray electrons and positrons from supernova explosions of massive stars
• On the e${}^{+}$e${}^{-}$ excesses and the knee of the cosmic ray spectra -- hints of cosmic rays acceleration at young supernova remnants
• Explaining PAMELA and WMAP data through Coannihilations in Extended SUGRA with Collider Implications
• Probing Gravitino Dark Matter with PAMELA and Fermi
• Distinguishing Between Dark Matter and Pulsar Origins of the ATIC Electron Spectrum With Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes
• The PAMELA and Fermi signals from long-lived Kaluza-Klein dark matter

Cited by in corpus (25)

• A Burst in a Wind Bubble and the Impact on Baryonic Ejecta: High-Energy Gamma-Ray Flashes and Afterglows from Fast Radio Bursts and Pulsar-Driven Supernova Remnants
• Astrophysical models for the origin of the positron "excess"
• SGRs and AXPs as rotation powered massive white dwarfs
• Pulsar interpretation for the AMS-02 result
• Can we explain AMS-02 antiproton and positron excesses simultaneously by nearby supernovae without pulsars nor dark matter?
• Testing the millisecond pulsar scenario of the Galactic center gamma-ray excess with very high energy gamma-rays
• A Model of White Dwarf Pulsar AR Scorpii
• Cosmic-ray positrons from millisecond pulsars
• Stochastic cosmic ray sources and the TeV break in the all-electron spectrum
• GW150914-like Black Holes as Galactic High-Energy Sources
• Constraining positron emission from pulsar populations with AMS-02 data
• A Model for AR~Scorpii: Emission from Relativistic Electrons Trapped by Closed Magnetic Field Lines of Magnetic White Dwarfs
• TeV cosmic ray electrons from millisecond pulsars
• The optically thick rotating magnetic wind from a massive white dwarf merger product
• StellarICS: Inverse Compton Emission from the Quiet Sun and Stars from keV to TeV
• Pulsar interpretation of the lepton spectra measured by AMS-02
• Thermal X-ray emission from massive, fast rotating, highly magnetized white dwarfs
• A self-consistent model of cosmic-ray fluxes and positron excess: Roles of nearby pulsars and a sub-dominant source population
• Gamma-rays from electrons accelerated by rotating magnetized White Dwarfs in Globular Clusters
• Monte Carlo Study of Electron and Positron Cosmic-Ray Propagation with the CALET Spectrum
• Extracting the size of the cosmic electron-positron anomaly
• On the PeV knee of cosmic rays spectrum and TeV cutoff of electron spectrum
• Similarities of SGRs with low magnetic field and white dwarf pulsars
• Positron annihilation as a cosmic-ray probe
• Ultra-high energy cosmic rays from white dwarf pulsars and the Hillas criterion