scholarly journals Cosmic ray transport in mixed magnetic fields and their role on the observed anisotropies

2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (3) ◽  
pp. 3497-3510
Author(s):  
Margot Fitz Axen ◽  
Julia Speicher ◽  
Aimee Hungerford ◽  
Chris L Fryer

ABSTRACT There is a growing set of observational data demonstrating that cosmic rays exhibit small-scale anisotropies (5°–30°) with amplitude deviations lying between 0.01–0.1 per cent that of the average cosmic ray flux. A broad range of models have been proposed to explain these anisotropies ranging from finite-scale magnetic field structures to dark matter annihilation. The standard diffusion transport methods used in cosmic ray propagation do not capture the transport physics in a medium with finite-scale or coherent magnetic field structures. Here, we present a Monte Carlo transport method, applying it to a series of finite-scale magnetic field structures to determine the requirements of such fields in explaining the observed cosmic ray, small-scale anisotropies.

2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (3) ◽  
pp. 2663-2672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Vollmann ◽  
Volker Heesen ◽  
Timothy W. Shimwell ◽  
Martin J Hardcastle ◽  
Marcus Brüggen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Dwarf galaxies are dark matter (DM) dominated and therefore promising targets for the search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are well-known candidates for DM. The annihilation of WIMPs produces ultrarelativistic cosmic ray electrons and positrons that emit synchrotron radiation in the presence of magnetic fields. For typical magnetic field strengths (few μG) and $\mathcal {O}$(GeV–TeV) WIMP masses, this emission peaks at hundreds of MHz. Here, we use the non-detection of 150-MHz radio continuum emission from the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Canes Venatici I with the Low-Frequency Array to derive constraints on the annihilation cross-section of WIMPs into primary electron–positron and other fundamental particle–antiparticle pairs. Our main underlying assumption is that the transport of the cosmic rays can be described by the diffusion approximation, thus requiring a non-zero magnetic field strength with small-scale structure. In particular, by adopting magnetic field strengths of $\mathcal {O}(1\, \mu$G) and diffusion coefficients $\sim \!10^{27}~\rm cm^2\, s^{-1}$, we obtain limits that are comparable with those set by the Fermi Large Area Telescope using gamma-ray observations of this particular galaxy. Assuming s-wave annihilation and WIMPs making up 100 per cent of the DM density, our benchmark limits exclude several thermal WIMP realizations in the [2, 20]-GeV mass range. We caution, however, that our limits for the cross-section are subject to enormous uncertainties that we also quantitatively assess. In particular, variations on the propagation parameters or on the DM halo can shift our limits up by several orders of magnitude (in the pessimistic scenario).


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 65-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Desiati ◽  
A. Lazarian

Abstract. Cosmic rays are observed to possess a small non uniform distribution in arrival direction. Such anisotropy appears to have a roughly consistent topology between tens of GeV and hundreds of TeV, with a smooth energy dependency on phase and amplitude. Above a few hundreds of TeV a sudden change in the topology of the anisotropy is observed. The distribution of cosmic ray sources in the Milky Way is expected to inject anisotropy on the cosmic ray flux. The nearest and most recent sources, in particular, are expected to contribute more significantly than others. Moreover the interstellar medium is expected to have different characteristics throughout the Galaxy, with different turbulent properties and injection scales. Propagation effects in the interstellar magnetic field can shape the cosmic ray particle distribution as well. In particular, in the 1–10 TeV energy range, they have a gyroradius comparable to the size of the Heliosphere, assuming a typical interstellar magnetic field strength of 3 μG. Therefore they are expected to be strongly affected by the Heliosphere in a manner ordered by the direction of the local interstellar magnetic field and of the heliotail. In this paper we discuss on the possibility that TeV cosmic rays arrival distribution might be significantly redistributed as they propagate through the Heliosphere.


2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (29) ◽  
pp. 6621-6632 ◽  
Author(s):  
BERND HEBER

The heliosphere is the region around the Sun that is filled by the solar wind and its embedded magnetic field. The interaction of the supersonic solar wind with the local interstellar medium leads to a transition from supersonic to subsonic speeds at the heliospheric termination shock. The latter is regarded to be the source of the anomalous component of cosmic rays. Within the heliosphere "local" energetic particle sources, like the Sun and interplanetary shock waves contribute to the cosmic ray flux, too. At energies below a few GeV the observed galactic and anomalous cosmic ray intensities are modulated by the heliospheric magnetic field. In my contribution, both the current knowledge and hypotheses about modulation and the transport of cosmic rays in the heliosphere are reviewed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (4) ◽  
pp. 5583-5588
Author(s):  
Man Ho Chan ◽  
Chak Man Lee

ABSTRACT In the past decade, various instruments, such as the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and the Dark Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE), have been used to detect the signals of annihilating dark matter in our Galaxy. Although some excesses of gamma rays, antiprotons and electrons/positrons have been reported and are claimed to be dark matter signals, the uncertainties of the contributions of Galactic pulsars are still too large to confirm the claims. In this paper, we report on a possible radio signal of annihilating dark matter manifested in the archival radio continuum spectral data of the Abell 4038 cluster. By assuming a thermal annihilation cross-section and comparing the dark matter annihilation model with the null hypothesis (cosmic ray emission without dark matter annihilation), we obtain very large test statistic (TS) values, TS > 45, for four popular annihilation channels, which correspond to more than 6σ statistical preference. This reveals a possible potential signal of annihilating dark matter. In particular, our results are also consistent with the recent claims of dark matter mass, m ≈ 30–50 GeV, annihilating via the $\rm b\bar{b}$ quark channel with the thermal annihilation cross-section. However, at this time, we cannot exclude the possibility that a better background cosmic ray model could explain the spectral data without recourse to dark matter annihilations.


1970 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 168-183
Author(s):  
E. N. Parker

The topic of this presentation is the origin and dynamical behavior of the magnetic field and cosmic-ray gas in the disk of the Galaxy. In the space available I can do no more than mention the ideas that have been developed, with but little explanation and discussion. To make up for this inadequacy I have tried to give a complete list of references in the written text, so that the interested reader can pursue the points in depth (in particular see the review articles Parker, 1968a, 1969a, 1970). My purpose here is twofold, to outline for you the calculations and ideas that have developed thus far, and to indicate the uncertainties that remain. The basic ideas are sound, I think, but, when we come to the details, there are so many theoretical alternatives that need yet to be explored and so much that is not yet made clear by observations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 02001
Author(s):  
Sergey Ostapchenko

The differences between contemporary Monte Carlo generators of high energy hadronic interactions are discussed and their impact on the interpretation of experimental data on ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is studied. Key directions for further model improvements are outlined. The prospect for a coherent interpretation of the data in terms of the UHECR composition is investigated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 495 (1) ◽  
pp. L124-L128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Ho Chan ◽  
Chak Man Lee

ABSTRACT In the past decade, some telescopes [e.g. Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT), Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer(AMS), and Dark Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE)] were launched to detect the signals of annihilating dark matter in our Galaxy. Although some excess of gamma-rays, antiprotons, and electrons/positrons have been reported and claimed as dark matter signals, the uncertainties of Galactic pulsars’ contributions are still too large to confirm the claims. In this Letter, we report a possible radio signal of annihilating dark matter manifested in the archival radio continuum spectral data of the Abell 4038 cluster. By assuming the thermal annihilation cross-section and comparing the dark matter annihilation model with the null hypothesis (cosmic ray emission without dark matter annihilation), we get very large test statistic values >45 for four popular annihilation channels, which correspond to more than 6.5σ statistical preference. This provides a very strong evidence for the existence of annihilating dark matter. In particular, our results also support the recent claims of dark matter mass m ≈ 30–50 GeV annihilating via the bb̄ quark channel with the thermal annihilation cross-section.


2008 ◽  
Vol 78 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lavalle ◽  
E. Nezri ◽  
E. Athanassoula ◽  
F.-S. Ling ◽  
R. Teyssier

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.L Melott ◽  
B.C. Thomas ◽  
M. Kachelrieß ◽  
D.V. Semikoz ◽  
A.C. Overholt

ABSTRACTRecent 60Fe results have suggested that the estimated distances of supernovae in the last few million years should be reduced from ∼100 pc to ∼50 pc. Two events or series of events are suggested, one about 2.7 million years to 1.7 million years ago, and another may at 6.5 to 8.7 million years ago. We ask what effects such supernovae are expected to have on the terrestrial atmosphere and biota. Assuming that the Local Bubble was formed before the event being considered, and that the supernova and the Earth were both inside a weak, disordered magnetic field at that time, TeV-PeV cosmic rays at Earth will increase by a factor of a few hundred. Tropospheric ionization will increase proportionately, and the overall muon radiation load on terrestrial organisms will increase by a factor of ∼150. All return to pre-burst levels within 10kyr. In the case of an ordered magnetic field, effects depend strongly on the field orientation. The upper bound in this case is with a largely coherent field aligned along the line of sight to the supernova, in which case TeV-PeV cosmic ray flux increases are ∼104; in the case of a transverse field they are below current levels. We suggest a substantial increase in the extended effects of supernovae on Earth and in the “lethal distance” estimate; more work is needed. This paper is an explicit followup to Thomas et al. (2016). We also here provide more detail on the computational procedures used in both works.


2019 ◽  
Vol 488 (1) ◽  
pp. L119-L122 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wittkowski ◽  
Karl-Heinz Kampert

ABSTRACT Cosmogenic neutrinos originate from interactions of cosmic rays propagating through the universe with cosmic background photons. Since both high-energy cosmic rays and cosmic background photons exist, the existence of high-energy cosmogenic neutrinos is certain. However, their flux has not been measured so far. Therefore, we calculated the flux of high-energy cosmogenic neutrinos arriving at the Earth on the basis of elaborate 4D simulations that take into account three spatial degrees of freedom and the cosmological time-evolution of the universe. Our predictions for this neutrino flux are consistent with the recent upper limits obtained from large-scale cosmic-ray experiments. We also show that the extragalactic magnetic field has a strong influence on the neutrino flux. The results of this work are important for the design of future neutrino observatories, since they allow to assess the detector volume and observation time that are necessary to detect high-energy cosmogenic neutrinos in the near future. An observation of such neutrinos would push multimessenger astronomy to hitherto unachieved energy scales.


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