Constraining positron emission from pulsar populations with AMS-02 data

Abstract

The cosmic-ray flux of positrons is measured with high precision by the space-borne particle spectrometer AMS-02. 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. In this work we undertake massive simulations of Galactic pulsars populations, adopting different distributions for their position in the Galaxy, intrinsic physical properties, pair emission models, in order to overcome the incompleteness of the ATNF catalog. We fit the $e^{+}$ AMS-02 data together with a secondary component due to collisions of primary cosmic rays with the interstellar medium. We find that several mock galaxies have a pulsar population able to explain the observed $e^{+}$ flux, typically by few, bright sources. We determine the physical parameters of the pulsars dominating the $e^{+}$ flux, and assess the impact of different assumptions on radial distributions, spin-down properties, Galactic propagation scenarios and $e^{+}$ emission time.

21 pages, 7 figures. Typos corrected, references added. Matches version published by JCAP

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Cited by in corpus (16)

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• A novel prediction for secondary positrons and electrons in the Galaxy
• Utilizing cosmic-ray positron and electron observations to probe the averaged properties of Milky Way pulsars
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• Gamma-ray halos around pulsars: impact on pulsar wind physics and galactic cosmic ray transport
• Monte Carlo Study of Electron and Positron Cosmic-Ray Propagation with the CALET Spectrum
• Revisiting GeV-scale annihilating dark matter with the AMS-02 positron fraction
• Cosmic-ray propagation under consideration of a spatially resolved source distribution
• Disclosing the catalog pulsars dominating the Galactic positron flux
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• Observing Signals of Spectral Features in the Cosmic-Ray Positrons and Electrons from Milky Way Pulsars
• Possible counterpart signal of the Fermi bubbles at the cosmic-ray positrons
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• SECRET: Stochasticity Emulator for Cosmic Ray Electrons
• Deciphering the Electron Spectral Hardening in AMS-02
• Self-confinement of relativistic pair beams in magnetized interstellar plasmas: the case of pulsar X-ray filaments