arXiv subjects

Philipp Mertsch

Publications and source records attributed to Philipp Mertsch.

61 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Fermi gamma-ray `bubbles' from stochastic acceleration of electrons

Gamma-ray data from Fermi-LAT reveal a bi-lobular structure extending up to 50 degrees above and below the galactic centre, which presumably originated in some form of energy release there less than a few million years ago. It has been argued that the gamma-rays arise from hadronic interactions of high energy cosmic rays which are advected out by a strong wind, or from inverse-Compton scattering of relativistic electrons accelerated at plasma shocks present in the bubbles. We explore the alternative possibility that the relativistic electrons are undergoing stochastic 2nd-order Fermi acceleration by plasma wave turbulence through the entire volume of the bubbles. The observed gamma-ray spectral shape is then explained naturally by the resulting hard electron spectrum and inverse Compton losses. Rather than a constant volume emissivity as in other models, we predict a nearly constant surface brightness, and reproduce the observed sharp edges of the bubbles.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

The high energy neutrino cross-section in the Standard Model and its uncertainty

Updated predictions are presented for high energy neutrino and antineutrino charged and neutral current cross-sections within the conventional DGLAP formalism of NLO QCD using modern PDF fits. PDF uncertainties from model assumptions and parametrization bias are considered in addition to the experimental uncertainties. Particular attention is paid to assumptions and biases which could signal the need for extension of the conventional formalism to include effects such as ln(1/x) resummation or non-linear effects of high gluon density.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Cosmic ray electrons and positrons from discrete stochastic sources

The distances that galactic cosmic ray electrons and positrons can travel are severely limited by energy losses to at most a few kiloparsec, thereby rendering the local spectrum very sensitive to the exact distribution of sources in our galactic neighbourhood. However, due to our ignorance of the exact source distribution, we can only predict the spectrum stochastically. We argue that even in the case of a large number of sources the central limit theorem is not applicable, but that the standard deviation for the flux from a random source is divergent due to a long power law tail of the probability density. Instead, we compute the expectation value and characterise the scatter around it by quantiles of the probability density using a generalised central limit theorem in a fully analytical way. The uncertainty band is asymmetric about the expectation value and can become quite large for TeV energies. In particular, the predicted local spectrum is marginally consistent with the measurements by Fermi-LAT and HESS even without imposing spectral breaks or cut-offs at source. We conclude that this uncertainty has to be properly accounted for when predicting electron fluxes above a few hundred GeV from astrophysical sources.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Cosmic ray backgrounds for dark matter indirect detection

Recently, dark matter indirect searches have gained a lot of attention, mostly due to the possibility of recent anomalies in cosmic rays and microwave sky maps being due to the annihilation or decay of dark matter. In this thesis, we argue however that these signals are plagued by irreducible astrophysical backgrounds and show how plausible conventional physics can mimic the alleged dark matter signals. In particular, we consider the possibility that the rise in the positron fraction observed by the PAMELA satellite is due to the production through (hadronic) cosmic ray spallation and subsequent acceleration of positrons, in the same sources as the primary cosmic rays. We present a new analytical estimate of the range of possible fluctuations in the high energy electron flux due to the discreteness of plausible cosmic ray sources. Fitting our result for the total electron-positron flux measured by the Fermi satellite allows us to fix the only free parameter of the model and make an independent prediction for the positron fraction. This model can be tested by considering similar effects expected for nuclear secondary-to-primary ratios such as B/C. A rise predicted above O(100) GeV/n would be an unique confirmation of our explanation for a rising positron fraction and rule out the dark matter explanation. Furthermore, we review the assumptions made in the extraction of the `WMAP haze' which has also been claimed to be due to electrons and positrons from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic centre region. We argue that the energy-dependence of their diffusion makes the extraction of the haze through template fitting unreliable. The systematic effects introduced by this can, under specific circumstances, reproduce the residual, suggesting that the `haze' may be just an artefact of the template subtraction.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Systematic effects in the extraction of the 'WMAP haze'

The extraction of a 'haze' from the WMAP microwave skymaps is based on subtraction of known foregrounds, viz. free-free (bremsstrahlung), thermal dust and synchrotron, each traced by other skymaps. While the 408 MHz all-sky survey is used for the synchrotron template, the WMAP bands are at tens of GHz where the spatial distribution of the radiating cosmic ray electrons ought to be quite different because of the energy-dependence of their diffusion in the Galaxy. The systematic uncertainty this introduces in the residual skymap is comparable to the claimed haze and can, for certain source distributions, have a very similar spectrum and latitudinal profile and even a somewhat similar morphology. Hence caution must be exercised in interpreting the 'haze' as a physical signature of, e.g., dark matter annihilation in the Galactic centre.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

On cosmic ray acceleration in supernova remnants and the FERMI/PAMELA data

We discuss recent observations of high energy cosmic ray positrons and electrons in the context of hadronic interactions in supernova remnants, the suspected accelerators of galactic cosmic rays. Diffusive shock acceleration can harden the energy spectrum of secondary positrons relative to that of the primary protons (and electrons) and thus explain the rise in the positron fraction observed by PAMELA above 10 GeV. We normalize the hadronic interaction rate by holding pion decay to be responsible for the gamma-rays detected by HESS from some SNRs. By simulating the spatial and temporal distribution of SNRs in the Galaxy according to their known statistics, we are able to then fit the electron (plus positron) energy spectrum measured by Fermi. It appears that IceCube has good prospects for detecting the hadronic neutrino fluxes expected from nearby SNRs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

Testing astrophysical models for the PAMELA positron excess with cosmic ray nuclei

The excess in the positron fraction reported by the PAMELA collaboration has been interpreted as due to annihilation or decay of dark matter in the Galaxy. More prosaically, it has been ascribed to direct production of positrons by nearby pulsars, or due to pion production during stochastic acceleration of hadronic cosmic rays in nearby sources. We point out that measurements of secondary nuclei produced by cosmic ray spallation can discriminate between these possibilities. New data on the titanium-to-iron ratio from the ATIC-2 experiment support the hadronic source model above and enable a prediction to be made for the boron-to-carbon ratio at energies above 100 GeV. Presently, all cosmic ray data are consistent with the positron excess being astrophysical in origin.

astro-ph.HE↗