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On the possibility of observing cosmic ray sources in high energy gamma raysIf cosmic rays are accelerated by strong shocks, then cosmic ray sources should be characterized by spectra, dN/dE alpha E exp -(2.0-2.2), reflecting the strength of those shocks. This is expected from the 'standard leaky box' model of cosmic ray propagation in which the source spectra are harder than the observed spectra because higher energy particles have shorter residence times in the galactic magnetic fields. Furthermore, data on cosmic ray nucleons suggest that these sources might be surrounded by material. If the latter is true, such sources should be observable in gamma rays at energies beyond 1 GeV where the angular resolution of gamma-ray telescopes is optimized and the background is significantly reduced. For identified sources, the source location accuracy can be shown to improve with increasing energy in spite of the decreasing statistics, as long as the gamma-ray spectrum is harder than dN/dE alpha E exp -gamma. A Monte Carlo model is used to predict the photon spectra which would be expected from cosmic ray sources under varying assumptions about the strength of the shocks in the acceleration region.
Document ID
19920075513
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Ormes, J. F.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1987
Publication Information
Publication: Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics Contributions to the 20th International Cosmic Ray Conference
Subject Category
Space Radiation
Report/Patent Number
SESSION-OG-2.1-17
Accession Number
92N70637
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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