arXiv subjects

M. Kachelriess

Publications and source records attributed to M. Kachelriess.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Signatures of a two million year old supernova in the spectra of cosmic ray protons, antiprotons and positrons

The locally observed cosmic ray spectrum has several puzzling features, such as the excess of positrons and antiprotons above $\sim 20$ GeV and the discrepancy in the slopes of the spectra of cosmic ray protons and heavier nuclei in the TeV-PeV energy range. We show that these features are consistently explained by a nearby source which was active $\sim 2$ Myr ago and has injected $(1-2)\times 10^{50}$ erg in cosmic rays. The transient nature of the source and its overall energy budget point to the supernova origin of this local cosmic ray source. The age of the supernova suggests that the local cosmic ray injection was produced by the same supernova that has deposited $^{60}$Fe isotopes in the deep ocean crust.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Imprint of a 2 Myr old source on the cosmic ray anisotropy

We study numerically the anisotropy of the cosmic ray (CR) flux emitted by a single source calculating the trajectories of individual CRs. We show that the contribution of a single source to the observed anisotropy is instead determined solely by the fraction the source contributes to the total CR intensity, its age and its distance,and does not depend on the CR energy at late times. Therefore the observation of a constant dipole anisotropy indicates that a single source dominates the CR flux in the corresponding energy range. A natural explanation for the plateau between 2--20 TeV observed in the CR anisotropy is thus the presence of a single, nearby source. For the source age of 2 Myr, as suggested by the explanation of the antiproton and positron data from PAMELA and AMS-02 through a local source [arXiv:astro-ph/1504.06472], we determine the source distance as $\sim 200$ pc. Combined with the contribution of the global CR sea calculated in the escape model, we can explain qualitatively the data for the dipole anisotropy. Our results suggest that the assumption of a smooth CR source distribution should be abandoned between 200 GeV and 1 PeV.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Escape model for Galactic cosmic rays and an early extragalactic transition

We show that the cosmic ray (CR) knee can be entirely explained by energy-dependent CR leakage from the Milky Way, with an excellent fit to all existing data. We test this hypothesis calculating the trajectories of individual CRs in the Galactic magnetic field. We find that the CR escape time $τ_{\rm esc}(E)$ exhibits a knee-like structure around $E/Z={\rm few}\times 10^{15}$ eV for small coherence lengths and strengths of the turbulent magnetic field. The resulting intensities for different groups of nuclei are consistent with the ones determined by KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande, using simple power-laws as injection spectra. The transition from Galactic to extragalactic CRs is terminated at $\approx 2\times 10^{18}$ eV, while extragalactic CRs contribute sizeable to the subdominant proton flux already for $\gtrsim 2\times 10^{16}$ eV. The natural source of extragalactic CRs in the intermediate energy region up to the ankle are in this model normal and starburst galaxies. The escape model provides a good fit to $\ln(A)$ data; it predicts that the phase of the CR dipole varies strongly in the energy range between $1\times 10^{17}$ and $3\times 10^{18}$ eV, while our estimate for the dipole magnitude is consistent with observations.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Neutrino yield from Galactic cosmic rays

We calculate the neutrino yield from collisions of cosmic ray (CR) nuclei on gas using the event generator QGSJET-II. We present first the general characteristics and numerical results for the neutrino yield assuming power-law fluxes for the primary CR nuclei. Then we use three parameterisations for the Galactic CR flux to derive the neutrino yield for energies around and above the knee. The shape and the normalization of the resulting neutrino flux above $\sim 10^{14}$ eV depends on the composition of the Galactic CR flux employed, but is generally dominated by its proton component. The spectral shape and magnitude of the neutrino flux suggest that the IceCube excess is not connected to interactions of Galactic sea CRs. If a fraction of these events has a Galactic origin, then they may be caused by CR overdensities around recent close-by Galactic sources.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Explaining the Spectra of Cosmic Ray Groups above the Knee by Escape from the Galaxy

We investigate the possibility that the cosmic ray (CR) knee is entirely explained by the energy-dependent CR leakage from the Milky Way. We test this hypothesis calculating the trajectories of individual CRs with energies between $E/Z=10^{14}$ eV and $10^{17}$ eV propagating them in the regular and turbulent Galactic magnetic field. We find a knee-like structure of the CR escape time $τ_{\rm esc}(E)$ around $E/Z={\rm few}\times 10^{15}$ eV for a coherence length $l_{\rm c} \simeq 2$ pc of the turbulent field, while the decrease of $τ_{\rm esc}(E)$ slows down around $E/Z\simeq 10^{16}$ eV in models with a weak turbulent magnetic field. Assuming that the injection spectra of CR nuclei are power-laws, the resulting CR intensities in such a turbulence are consistent with the energy spectra of CR nuclei determined by KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande. We calculate the resulting CR dipole anisotropy as well as the source rate in this model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Anisotropic Cosmic Ray Diffusion and its Implications for Gamma-Ray Astronomy

Analyses of TeV-PeV cosmic ray (CR) diffusion around their sources usually assume either isotropic diffusion or anisotropic diffusion due to the regular Galactic magnetic field. We show that none of them are adequate on distances smaller than the maximal scale Lmax ~ 100 pc of fluctuations in the turbulent interstellar magnetic field. As a result, we predict anisotropic gamma-ray emissions around CR proton and electron sources, even for uniform densities of target gas. The centers of extended emission regions may have non-negligible offsets from their sources, leading to risks of misidentification. Gamma-rays from CR filaments have steeper energy spectra than those from surrounding regions. We point out that gamma-ray telescopes can be used in the future as a new way to probe and deduce the parameters of the interstellar magnetic field.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

B/C ratio and the PAMELA positron excess

We calculate the diffuse intensity of cosmic ray (CR) nuclei and their secondaries in the Boron-Carbon group produced by supernova remnants (SNR). The trajectories of charged particles in the SNR are modeled as a random walk in the test particle approximation. Secondary production by CRs colliding with gas in the SNR is included as a Monte Carlo process, while we use Galprop to account for the propagation and interactions of CRs in the Galaxy. In the vicinity of a source, we find an approximately constant B/C ratio as a function of energy. As a result, the B/C ratio at Earth does not rise with energy, but flattens instead in the high energy limit. This prediction can be soon tested by the AMS-2 collaboration.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Antideuterons from dark matter annihilations and hadronization model dependence

We calculate the antideuteron yield in dark matter annihilations on an event-by-event basis using the HERWIG++ Monte Carlo generator. We present the resulting antideuteron fluxes for quark and gauge boson final states. As deuteron production in the coalescence model depends on momentum differences between nucleons that are small compared to Λ_{QCD}, it is potentially very sensitive to the hadronization model employed. We therefore compare our antideuteron yields to earlier results based on PYTHIA, thereby estimating their uncertainties. We also briefly discuss the importance of n>2 final states for annihilations of heavy DM particles.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Deriving the cosmic ray spectrum from gamma-ray observations

A fundamental problem of cosmic ray (CR) physics is the determination of the average properties of Galactic CRs outside the Solar system. Starting from COS-B data in the 1980's, gamma-ray observations of molecular clouds in the Gould Belt above the Galactic plane have been used to deduce the Galactic CR energy spectrum. We reconsider this problem in view of the improved precision of observational data which in turn require a more precise treatment of photon production in proton-proton scatterings. We show that the spectral shape $dN/dp\propto p^{-2.85}$ of CR protons as determined by the PAMELA collaboration in the energy range 80 GeV<pc<230 GeV is consistent with the photon spectra from molecular clouds observed with Fermi-LAT down to photon energies E\sim 1-2 GeV. Adding a break of the CR flux at 3 GeV, caused by a corresponding change of the diffusion coefficient, improves further the agreement in the energy range 0.2-3 GeV.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Cosmic Ray Anisotropy as Signature for the Transition from Galactic to Extragalactic Cosmic Rays

We constrain the energy at which the transition from Galactic to extragalactic cosmic rays occurs by computing the anisotropy at Earth of cosmic rays emitted by Galactic sources. Since the diffusion approximation starts to loose its validity for E/Z >~ 10^(16-17) eV, we propagate individual cosmic rays (CRs) using Galactic magnetic field models and taking into account both their regular and turbulent components. The turbulent field is generated on a nested grid which allows spatial resolution down to fractions of a parsec. Assuming sufficiently frequent Galactic CR sources, the dipole amplitude computed for a mostly light or intermediate primary composition exceeds the dipole bounds measured by the Auger collaboration around E ~ 10^18 eV. Therefore, a transition at the ankle or above would require a heavy composition or a rather extreme Galactic magnetic field with strength >~ 10 muG. Moreover, the fast rising proton contribution suggested by KASCADE-Grande data between 10^17 eV and 10^18 eV should be of extragalactic origin. In case heavy nuclei dominate the flux at E >~ 10^18 eV, the transition energy can be close to the ankle, if Galactic CRs are produced by sufficiently frequent transients as e.g. magnetars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Filamentary Diffusion of Cosmic Rays on Small Scales

We investigate the diffusion of cosmic rays (CR) close to their sources. Propagating individual CRs in purely isotropic turbulent magnetic fields with maximal scale of spatial variations Lmax, we find that CRs diffuse anisotropically at distances r <~ Lmax from their sources. As a result, the CR densities around the sources are strongly irregular and show filamentary structures. We determine the transition time t* to standard diffusion as t* ~ 10^4 yr (Lmax/150 pc)^b (E/PeV)^(-g) (Brms/4 muG)^g, with b ~ 2 and g = 0.25-0.5 for a turbulent field with Kolmogorov power spectrum. We calculate the photon emission due to CR interactions with gas and the resulting irregular source images.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Degree-scale GeV "jets" from active and dead TeV blazars

We show that images of TeV blazars in the GeV energy band should contain, along with point-like sources, degree-scale jet-like extensions. These GeV extensions are the result of electromagnetic cascades initiated by TeV gamma-rays interacting with extragalactic background light and the deflection of the cascade electrons/positrons in extragalactic magnetic fields (EGMF). Using Monte-Carlo simulations, we study the spectral and timing properties of the degree-scale extensions in simulated GeV band images of TeV blazars. We show that the brightness profile of such degree-scale extensions can be used to infer the lightcurve of the primary TeV gamma-ray source over the past 1e7 yr, i.e. over a time scale comparable to the life-time of the parent active galactic nucleus. This implies that the degree-scale jet-like GeV emission could be detected not only near known active TeV blazars, but also from "TeV blazar remnants", whose central engines were switched off up to ten million years ago. Since the brightness profile of the GeV "jets" depends on the strength and the structure of the EGMF, their observation provides additionally information about the EGMF.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

ELMAG: A Monte Carlo simulation of electromagnetic cascades on the extragalactic background light and in magnetic fields

A Monte Carlo program for the simulation of electromagnetic cascades initiated by high-energy photons and electrons interacting with extragalactic background light (EBL) is presented. Pair production and inverse Compton scattering on EBL photons as well as synchrotron losses and deflections of the charged component in extragalactic magnetic fields (EGMF) are included in the simulation. Weighted sampling of the cascade development is applied to reduce the number of secondary particles and to speed up computations. As final result, the simulation procedure provides the energy, the observation angle, and the time delay of secondary cascade particles at the present epoch. Possible applications are the study of TeV blazars and the influence of the EGMF on their spectra or the calculation of the contribution from ultrahigh energy cosmic rays or dark matter to the diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray background. As an illustration, we present results for deflections and time-delays relevant for the derivation of limits on the EGMF.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Ultrahigh Energy Nuclei in the Turbulent Galactic Magnetic Field

In this work we study how the turbulent component of the Galactic magnetic field (GMF) affects the propagation of ultrahigh energy heavy nuclei. We investigate first how the images of individual sources and of the supergalactic plane depend on the properties of the turbulent GMF. Then we present a quantitative study of the impact of the turbulent field on (de-) magnification of source fluxes, due to magnetic lensing effects. We also show that it is impossible to explain the Pierre Auger data assuming that all ultrahigh energy nuclei are coming from Cen A, even in the most favorable case of a strong, extended turbulent field in the Galactic halo.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Propagation of Ultrahigh Energy Nuclei in the Magnetic Field of our Galaxy

In this work, we present detailed simulations for propagation of ultra-high energy (UHE) heavy nuclei, with E > 60 EeV, within recent Galactic Magnetic Field (GMF) models. We investigate the impacts of the regular and turbulent components of the GMF. We show that with UHE heavy nuclei, there is no one-to-one correspondence between the arrival directions of cosmic rays (CR) measured at Earth and the direction of their extragalactic sources. Sources can have several distorted images on the sky. We compute images of galaxy clusters and of the supergalactic plane in recent GMF models and show the challenges, and possibilities, of "UHECR astronomy" with heavy nuclei. Finally, we present a quantitative study of the impact of the GMF on the (de-)magnification of source fluxes, due to magnetic lensing effects. We find that for 60 EeV iron nuclei, sources located in up to about one fifth of the sky would have their fluxes so strongly demagnified that they would not be detectable at Earth, even by the next generation of UHECR experiments.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Antimatter production in supernova remnants

We calculate the energy spectra of cosmic rays (CR) and their secondaries produced in a supernova remnant (SNR), taking into account the time-dependence of the SNR shock. We model the trajectories of charged particles as a random walk with a prescribed diffusion coefficient, accelerating the particles at each shock crossing. Secondary production by CRs colliding with gas is included as a Monte Carlo process. We find that SNRs produce less antimatter than suggested previously: The positron/electron ratio and the antiproton/proton ratio are a few percent and few $\times 10^{-5}$, respectively. Moreover, the obtained positron/electron ratio decreases with energy, while the antiproton/proton ratio rises at most by a factor of two above 10 GeV.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Restricting UHECRs and cosmogenic neutrinos with Fermi-LAT

Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHECR) protons interacting with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) produce UHE electrons and gamma-rays that in turn initiate electromagnetic cascades on CMB and infrared photons. As a result, a background of diffuse isotropic gamma radiation is accumulated in the energy range $E\lsim 100$ GeV. The Fermi-LAT collaboration has recently reported a measurement of the extragalactic diffuse background finding it less intense and softer than previously measured by EGRET. We show that this new result constrains UHECR models and the flux of cosmogenic neutrinos. In particular, it excludes models with cosmogenic neutrino fluxes detectable by existing neutrino experiments, while next-generation detectors as e.g. JEM-EUSO can observe neutrinos only for extreme parameters.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Lower limit on the strength and filling factor of extragalactic magnetic fields

High energy photons from blazars can initiate electromagnetic pair cascades interacting with the extragalactic photon background. The charged component of such cascades is deflected and delayed by extragalactic magnetic fields (EGMF), reducing thereby the observed point-like flux and leading potentially to multi degree images in the GeV energy range. We calculate the fluence of 1ES 0229+200 as seen by Fermi-LAT for different EGMF profiles using a Monte Carlo simulation for the cascade development. The non-observation of 1ES 0229+200 by Fermi-LAT suggests that the EGMF fills at least 60% of space with fields stronger than {\cal O}(10^{-16}-10^{-15})G for life times of TeV activity of {\cal O}(10^2-10^4)yr. Thus the (non-) observation of GeV extensions around TeV blazars probes the EGMF in voids and puts strong constraints on the origin of EGMFs: Either EGMFs were generated in a space filling manner (e.g. primordially) or EGMFs produced locally (e.g. by galaxies) have to be efficiently transported to fill a significant volume fraction, as e.g. by galactic outflows.

astro-ph.HE↗