Spectrum of Electrons Accelerated in Supernova Remnants

Using a semianalytic model of nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration, we model the total spectrum of cosmic ray (CR) electrons accelerated by supernova remnants (SNRs). Because electrons experience synchrotron losses in the amplified magnetic fields characteristic of SNRs, they exhibit substantially...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2019-08, Vol.123 (7), p.071101-071101, Article 071101
Main Authors: Diesing, Rebecca, Caprioli, Damiano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceleration
Cosmic rays
Electrons
Supernova remnants
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Summary:Using a semianalytic model of nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration, we model the total spectrum of cosmic ray (CR) electrons accelerated by supernova remnants (SNRs). Because electrons experience synchrotron losses in the amplified magnetic fields characteristic of SNRs, they exhibit substantially steeper spectra than protons. In particular, we find that the difference between the electron and proton spectral index (power law slope) ranges from 0.1 to 0.4. Our findings must be reckoned with theories of Galactic CR transport, which often assume that electrons and protons are injected with the same slope, and may especially have implications for the observed "positron excess".
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.071101