A. Neronov, D. V. Semikoz
We consider a possibility of identification of sources of cosmic rays (CR) of
the energy above 1 TeV via observation of degree-scale extended gamma-ray
emission which traces the locations of recent sources in the Galaxy. Such
emission in the energy band above 100 GeV is produced by CR nuclei and
electrons released by the sources and spreading into the interstellar medium.
We use the data from the Fermi gamma-ray telescope to locate the degree-scale
100 GeV gamma-ray sources in the Galactic Plane. We find that a large fraction
of the sources is associated to pulsars with spin down age less than ~30 kyr
and hence to the recent supernova explosions. This supports the hypothesis of
supernova origin of Galactic CRs. We notice that the degree-scale extended
emission does not surround shell-like supernova remnants without pulsars. Based
on this observation, we argue that the presence of the pulsar is essential for
the CR acceleration process.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.1660
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