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Diffuse gamma-ray emission from pulsars in the Large Magellanic CloudWe investigate the contribution of pulsars to the diffuse gamma-ray emission from the LMC. The pulsar birth rate in the LMC is a factor of about 10 lower than that of the Galaxy and the distance to pulsars in the LMC is about 5-10 times larger than to Galactic pulsars. The resulting total integrated photon flux from LMC pulsars is thus reduced by a factor of about 100 to 1000. However, the surface brightness is not reduced by the same amount because of the much smaller angular extent of the LMC in comparison to the diffuse glow from the Galactic plane. We show that gamma-ray emission due to pulsars born in the LMC could produce gamma-ray fluxes that are larger than the inverse Compton component from relativistic cosmic-ray electrons and a significant fraction of the extragalactic isotropic background or the diffuse Galactic background in that direction. The diffuse pulsar glow above 100 MeV should therefore be included in models of high-energy emission from the LMC. For a gamma-ray beaming fraction of order unity the detected emissions from the LMC constrain the pulsar birth rate to less than one per 50 yr. This limit is about one order of magnitude above the supernova rate inferred from the historic record or from the star-formation rate.
Document ID
19930052357
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Hartmann, Dieter H.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Brown, Lawrence E.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Schnepf, Neil
(Clemson Univ. SC, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters
Volume: 408
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
93A36354
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-1578
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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