Three regions of an excessive flux of PeV cosmic rays

Three regions of an excessive flux of cosmic rays with energies of the order of PeV are found in the experimental data of the EAS MSU array at a confidence level greater than 4σ. For two of them, there are similar regions in the experimental data of the EAS-1000 Prototype array. One of the interesting features of the regions is the absence in their vicinities of supernova remnants, traditionally considered as the main sources of Galactic cosmic rays, and the presence of pulsars, some of which are able to accelerate heavy nuclei up to energies close to PeV. In our opinion, this favors the conjecture that isolated pulsars are able to contribute to the flux of Galactic cosmic rays more than it is usually assumed.     

Pulsars as the most probable sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

The arrival directions of ultrahigh-energy extensive air showers detected at the Yakutsk extensive air shower array are considered. The maxima revealed in the distribution of the arrival directions of showers and doublets are found to correlate with the coordinates of pulsars located in the Galactic plane. It is shown that the three showers detected at the Yakutsk extensive air shower with the highest energies E > 10²⁰ eV correlate with the nearest pulsars.     

Search for the Galactic Disk and Halo Components in the Arrival Directions of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos

The arrival directions of 40 neutrino events with energies ?100 TeV, observed by the IceCube experiment, are studied. Their distribution in the Galactic latitude and in the angular distance to the Galactic Center allow searching for the Milky-Way disk and halo-related components, respectively. No statistically significant evidence for the disk component is found, though even 100% disk origin of the flux is allowed at the 90% confidence level. Contrary, the Galactic Center–Anticenter dipole anisotropy, specific for dark-matter decays (annihilation) or for interactions of cosmic rays with the extended halo of the circumgalactic gas, is clearly favored over the isotropic distribution (the probability of fluctuation of the isotropic signal is ~2%).     

An analysis of pulsar timing irregularities: is it induced by a source of gravitational waves in the galaxy?

Summary A statistical analysis of the irregularities in the pulse arrival times for the some 30 pulsars, for which the timing noise measurements are available, indicates that, at a confidence level of 96%, the timing noise is induced by a hypothetical source within our Galaxy. The source would be located at 08 h 38 min right ascension, −3° declination and 0.9 kpc distance from the solar system. We suggest and discuss the possibility that the interaction between the ?source? and the pulsars is due to gravitational waves, emitted in bursts by the hypothetical source with yearly rate over the past 10⁵ years. Paper presented at the Congress ?Galactic and Extragalactic Dark Matter?, Roma, 28 to 30 June 1983.     

Pulsar braking:magnetodipole vs.wind

Pulsars are good clocks in the universe. One fundamental question is that why they are good clocks? This is related to the braking mechanism of pulsars. Nowadays pulsar timing is done with unprecedented accuracy. More pulsars have braking indices measured.The period derivative of intermittent pulsars and magnetars can vary by a factor of several. However, during pulsar studies, the magnetic dipole braking in vacuum is still often assumed. It is shown that the fundamental assumption of magnetic dipole braking(vacuum condition) does not exist and it is not consistent with the observations. The physical torque must consider the presence of the pulsar magnetosphere. Among various efforts, the wind braking model can explain many observations of pulsars and magnetars in a unified way. It is also consistent with the up-to-date observations. It is time for a paradigm shift in pulsar studies: from magnetic dipole braking to wind braking. As one alternative to the magnetospheric model, the fallback disk model is also discussed.     

The spatial distribution of old neutron stars in the Galaxy

The spatial distributions of old neutron stars (NSs) with ages 109 to 1010 yr in our Galaxy are investigated by Monte Carlo simulation under two different initial random velocity models.It is found that the scale heights of the distribution increase with the Galactic radial distance.The location of the peak of the NS distribution is closer to the Galactic center than that of their progenitors.The results from our detailed numerical analysis reveal that there is resemblance between the simulated old NS distribution and the structure of the observed HI disk.     

Origin of the annihilation radiation from the galactic center region

Observations show that there are two sources of positron annihilation radiation from the region of the Galactic Center: a variable, compact source at or near the Galactic Center and a steady, diffuse source in the galactic disk. We suggest that the annihilating positrons responsible for the variable, annihilation line radiation, observed from 1977 through 1979, result from photon-photon pair production, most likely around an accreting black hole, and that the annihilating, interstellar positrons, responsible for the steady, diffuse galactic annihilation radiation, result from the decay of radionuclei produced by thermonuclear burning in supernovae.     

On the Distribution of Radio Pulsars Above the Galaxy Plane

A mechanism of pulsar accumulation over the galaxy plane, caused by deceleration in the gravitational field and stopping at a certain distance of z from the plane is proposed. For pulsars with velocities close to the average observed velocity of about 300 km/s, the consideration of kinematics of such motion estimates the age of stopped pulsars of the order of ten millions years and the average distance from the galaxy plane of about 2 kpc. The consistency in the pulsar longitude distribution at |z| = 0.45–4.5 kpc and the distribution of the formation regions of massive stars in the galaxy disk was found.     

Small-scale clumps in the Galactic halo

A mass function of small-scale dark matter clumps is calculated. We take into account the tidal destruction of clumps at early stages of structure formation starting from a time of clump detachment from the Universe expansion. Only a small fraction of these clumps, ∼0.1%, in each logarithmic mass interval Δ log M ∼ 1 survives the stage of hierarchical clustering. We calculate the probability of surviving of the remnants of dark matter clumps in the Galaxy by modelling the tidal destruction of the small-scale clumps by disk and stars. It is demonstrated that a substantial fraction of clump remnants may survive through the tidal destruction during the lifetime of the Galaxy if a radius of core is rather small. The resulting mass spectrum of survived clumps is extended down to the mass of the core of the cosmologically produced clumps with a minimal mass. The survived dense remnants of tidally destructed clumps provides a large contribution to the annihilation signal in the Galaxy. We describe the anisotropy of dark matter clump distribution caused by tidal destruction of clumps in the Galactic disk. A corresponding annihilation of dark matter particles in small-scale clumps produces the anisotropic gamma-ray signal with respect to the Galactic disk.     

Galactic cosmic ray propagation: sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray and neutrino emission

The Tibet ASγ experiment just reported their measurement of sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray emission from the Galactic disk, with the highest energy up to 957 TeV. These diffuse gamma rays are most likely the hadronic origin by cosmic ray (CR) interaction with interstellar gas in the galaxy. This measurement provides direct evidence to the hypothesis that the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) can be accelerated beyond PeV energies. In this work, we try to explain the sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray spectrum with different CR propagation models. We find that there is a tension between the sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray and the local CR spectrum. To describe the sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray flux, it generally requires larger local CR flux than measurement in the knee region. We further calculate the PeV neutrino flux from the CR propagation model. Even all of these sub-PeV diffuse gamma rays originate from the propagation, the Galactic Neutrinos (GNs) only account for less than ~15% of observed flux, most of which are still from extragalactic sources.     

Galactic cosmic ray propagation: sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray and neutrino emission

The Tibet ASγ experiment just reported their measurement of sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray emission from the Galactic disk, with the highest energy up to 957 TeV. These diffuse gamma rays are most likely the hadronic origin by cosmic ray (CR) interaction with interstellar gas in the galaxy. This measurement provides direct evidence to the hypothesis that the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) can be accelerated beyond PeV energies. In this work, we try to explain the sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray spectrum with different CR propagation models. We find that there is a tension between the sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray and the local CR spectrum. To describe the sub-PeV diffuse gamma-ray flux, it generally requires larger local CR flux than measurement in the knee region. We further calculate the PeV neutrino flux from the CR propagation model. Even all of these sub-PeV diffuse gamma rays originate from the propagation, the Galactic Neutrinos (GNs) only account for less than ~15% of observed flux, most of which are still from extragalactic sources.     

Gravitational waves from pulsars in the context of magnetic ellipticity

In one of our previous articles we have considered the role of a time dependent magnetic ellipticity on the pulsars’ braking indices and on the putative gravitational waves these objects can emit. Since only nine of more than 2000 known pulsars have accurately measured braking indices, it is of interest to extend this study to all known pulsars, in particular as regards gravitational wave generation. To do so, as shown in our previous article, we need to know some pulsars’ observable quantities such as: periods and their time derivatives, and estimated distances to the Earth. Moreover, we also need to know the pulsars’ masses and radii, for which we are adopting current fiducial values. Our results show that the gravitational wave amplitude is at best \(h \sim 10^{-28}\). This leads to a pessimistic prospect for the detection of gravitational waves generated by these pulsars, even for Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, and the planned Einstein Telescope, if the ellipticity has a magnetic origin.     

General requirements for a dedicated observing system in a systematic search for superfast pulsars

Summary The observational panorama about radio pulsars is Briefly rewieved with emphasis on those selection effects which could have linited the detection of a class of fast and superfast pulsars. Some technical requirements useful to reduce these effects are taken in consideration and discussed. Paper presented at the 2^o Convegno Nazionale di Fisica Cosmica, held at L'Aquila, 29 May–2 June 1984.     

The astrophysics of cool white dwarfs

Old, cool white dwarfs convey valuable information about the early history of our Galaxy. They have been used to determine the age of the Galactic disk, several open clusters and a globular cluster. We review the current understanding of the physics of cool white dwarfs, including their mass distribution, chemical evolution, and cooling. We also examine the role of white dwarfs as tracers of various stellar populations, both in terms of observational searches and theoretical models.     

Destruction of axion miniclusters in the Galaxy

Previously, it has been established that axion dark matter (DM) is clustered to form clumps (axion miniclusters) with masses M ≈ 10^–12 M _⊙. The passages of such clumps through the Earth are very rare events occurring once in 10⁵ years. It has also been shown that the Earth’s passage through DM streams, which are the remnants of clumps destroyed by tidal gravitational forces from Galactic stars, is a much more probable event occurring once in several years. In this paper, we have performed detailed calculations of the destruction of miniclusters by taking into account their distribution in orbits in the Galactic halo. We have investigated two DM halo models, the Navarro–Frenk–White and isothermal density profiles. Apart from the Galactic disk stars, we have also taken into account the halo and bulge stars. We show that about 2–5% of the axion miniclusters are destroyed when passing near stars and transform into axion streams, while the clump destruction efficiency depends on the DM halo model. The expected detection rate of streams with an overdensity exceeding an order of magnitude is 1–2 in 20 years. The possibility of detecting streams by their tidal gravitational effect on gravitational-wave interferometers is also considered.     

Recent Results in Cosmic Ray Physics and Their Interpretation

The last decade has been dense with new developments in the search for the sources of Galactic cosmic rays. Some of these developments have confirmed the tight connection between cosmic rays and supernovae in our Galaxy, through the detection of gamma rays and the observation of thin non-thermal X-ray rims in supernova remnants. Some others, such as the detection of features in the spectra of some chemicals, opened new questions on the propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy and on details of the acceleration process. Here, I will summarize some of these developments and their implications for our understanding of the origin of cosmic rays. I will also discuss some new avenues that are being pursued in testing the supernova origin of Galactic cosmic rays.     

Dark matter profile in the galactic center

We describe a quasiequilibrium profile of dark matter particles in the inner parsec of the Galaxy, rhodm proportional to r(-3/2). This "minicusp" profile is caused by scattering with the dense stellar cluster around the supermassive black hole in Sgr A* and is independent of the initial conditions. The implications for detection of gamma rays from annihilation of weakly interacting massive dark matter particle in the Galactic center are a mild enhancement of the flux and a characteristic central feature in the angular distribution which could be detectable by high-resolution atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes.     

Gamma-Ray Pulsars

Based on Arons and Scharlemann model, the mechanism of γ-ray emission of pulsars is discussed. The criterion for radio pulsars appearing also as γ-ray pulsars is presented, after considering both dipole and quadrupole magnetic fields. The luminosities and fluxes of six known γ-ray pulsars are calculated. Using the criterion, twenty four possible candidates for γ-ray pulsars are listed and some characteristic quantities of them are also given.     

Redshift of a compact binary star in the neighborhood of a supermassive black hole

We present a method that allows to calculate the redshift of a compact binary star which moves in a strong external gravitational field, e.g. the field of a supermassive black hole. If the binary is close enough to the field center, its motion can be relativistic, while the relative motion of the stars in the binary is still non-relativistic. The latter can be computed in a co-moving reference frame. We calculate the redshift in a co-moving frame in Fermi coordinates as a series in the size of the binary \(\varrho \). The obtained expression is written in a covariant form up to linear terms in \(\varrho \). Using the equations of motion that have been obtained in a previous paper, we present the method of calculation of the redshift of a sample binary star moving in the field of a black hole. We illustrate this method by numerical model for the case of spherically-symmetric (Schwarzschild) black hole. The method can be applied to the analysis of the timing data of pulsars in the vicinity of the Galactic Center, and to the reconstruction of the binary star motion by its redshift.     

Modification of gravitational redshift of x-ray burst produced by pulsar surface magnetoplasma

In this paper, the propagation of x-ray bursts in the magnetoplasma of pulsar magnetosphere is discussed. The electromagnetic interaction between x-ray bursts and magnetoplasma is described as some geometry. The electromagnetic effects of surface superstrong magnetic field and dynamic effects of outflowing magnetoplasma of pulsars are treated as an optical metric. The Gordon metric is introduced to represent the gravitational metric and optical metric. So the propagation of x-ray bursts in magnetoplasma of pulsars can be described as x-ray bursts transmitting in an effective space characterized by Gordon metric. The modification of gravitational redshift, attributed to the flowing magnetoplasma of pulsars, is obtained and it is shown that the modification is of redshift and can reach the same magnitude as the gravitational redshift for ordinary pulsars.