Millisecond Pulsars in Globular Clusters and Implications for the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Amerio, Aurelio, Hooper, Dan, Linden, Tim
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Amerio, Aurelio
Hooper, Dan
Linden, Tim
author_facet Amerio, Aurelio
Hooper, Dan
Linden, Tim
contents We study the gamma-ray emission from millisecond pulsars within the Milky Way's globular cluster system in order to measure the luminosity function of this source population. We find that these pulsars have a mean luminosity of $\langle L_γ\rangle \sim (1-8)\times 10^{33}\, {\rm erg/s}$ (integrated between 0.1 and 100 GeV) and a log-normal width of $σ_L \sim 1.4-2.8$. If the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess were produced by pulsars with similar characteristics, Fermi would have already detected $N \sim 17-37$ of these sources, whereas only three such pulsar candidates have been identified. We conclude that the excess gamma-ray emission can originate from pulsars only if they are significantly less bright, on average, than those observed within globular clusters or in the Galactic Plane. This poses a serious challenge for pulsar interpretations of the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_05220
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Millisecond Pulsars in Globular Clusters and Implications for the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
Amerio, Aurelio
Hooper, Dan
Linden, Tim
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We study the gamma-ray emission from millisecond pulsars within the Milky Way's globular cluster system in order to measure the luminosity function of this source population. We find that these pulsars have a mean luminosity of $\langle L_γ\rangle \sim (1-8)\times 10^{33}\, {\rm erg/s}$ (integrated between 0.1 and 100 GeV) and a log-normal width of $σ_L \sim 1.4-2.8$. If the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess were produced by pulsars with similar characteristics, Fermi would have already detected $N \sim 17-37$ of these sources, whereas only three such pulsar candidates have been identified. We conclude that the excess gamma-ray emission can originate from pulsars only if they are significantly less bright, on average, than those observed within globular clusters or in the Galactic Plane. This poses a serious challenge for pulsar interpretations of the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess.
title Millisecond Pulsars in Globular Clusters and Implications for the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.05220