Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hooper, Dan, Pinetti, Elena, Sokolenko, Anastasia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.06739
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866913346538700800
author Hooper, Dan
Pinetti, Elena
Sokolenko, Anastasia
author_facet Hooper, Dan
Pinetti, Elena
Sokolenko, Anastasia
contents Pulsars convert a significant fraction of their total spin-down power into very high-energy electrons, leading to the formation of TeV halos. It is not yet known, however, whether these sources also efficiently accelerate electrons at lower energies and, if so, how those particles propagate through the surrounding environment. If pulsars produce $\sim 50-300 \, {\rm GeV}$ electrons, these particles would produce a spatially extended halo of synchrotron emission in the frequency range measured by Planck. Such emission could be used to constrain the low-energy diffusion coefficient in the regions surrounding these pulsars, as well as the spectrum and intensity of the electrons that are accelerated in this energy range. In this study, we attempt to use Planck data to constrain the nature of the Geminga pulsar's TeV halo. We find no conclusive evidence of this emission in Planck's frequency range, however, and calculate that the synchrotron flux from Geminga should be well below the total flux measured by Planck, even for models with favorable diffusion parameters or soft injection spectra. At this time, these measurements are not capable of significantly constraining the values of these parameters.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_06739
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Searching for Synchrotron Emission from the Geminga TeV Halo using the Planck Satellite
Hooper, Dan
Pinetti, Elena
Sokolenko, Anastasia
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Pulsars convert a significant fraction of their total spin-down power into very high-energy electrons, leading to the formation of TeV halos. It is not yet known, however, whether these sources also efficiently accelerate electrons at lower energies and, if so, how those particles propagate through the surrounding environment. If pulsars produce $\sim 50-300 \, {\rm GeV}$ electrons, these particles would produce a spatially extended halo of synchrotron emission in the frequency range measured by Planck. Such emission could be used to constrain the low-energy diffusion coefficient in the regions surrounding these pulsars, as well as the spectrum and intensity of the electrons that are accelerated in this energy range. In this study, we attempt to use Planck data to constrain the nature of the Geminga pulsar's TeV halo. We find no conclusive evidence of this emission in Planck's frequency range, however, and calculate that the synchrotron flux from Geminga should be well below the total flux measured by Planck, even for models with favorable diffusion parameters or soft injection spectra. At this time, these measurements are not capable of significantly constraining the values of these parameters.
title Searching for Synchrotron Emission from the Geminga TeV Halo using the Planck Satellite
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.06739