Cosmic-Ray Positrons Produced by Pulsar Winds from Mature Gamma-Ray Pulsars

• 来源期刊: 中国物理快报(英文版)
• 学科: 物理学
• 年，卷（期）: 2001,（5）
• 所属期刊栏目: GEOPHYSICS，ASTRONOMY，AND ASTROPHYSICS
• 页码范围: 701-704
• 页数: 4页
• 分类号: O4
• 语种: 英文

摘要

In the frame of the γ-ray pulsar outer gap model, e± pairs in the pulsar magnetosphere are produced by the cascade of e+ pairs through synchrotron radiation of the return current from the outer gap. These pairs are accelerated mono-energetically to relativistic energies in the pulsar wind driven by low-frequency electromagnetic waves. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we generate a sample of the mature γ-ray pulsars in our Galaxy and calculate the positron production rate from these pulsars. With a simple leaky box model, we calculate the ratio of cosmic-ray positron to total electrons. Our result indicates that the pulsar contribution to the cosmic-ray positron peaks at about 40 GeV and the observed e+ / (e- + e+) ratio can be explained by this model.