CCAPP Seminar: "Utilizing HAWC Observations to Shed Light on Milky Way Pulsars" Tim Linden (OSU)

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May 23, 2017
11:30AM - 12:30PM
McPherson 4054

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2017-05-23 11:30:00 2017-05-23 12:30:00 CCAPP Seminar: "Utilizing HAWC Observations to Shed Light on Milky Way Pulsars" Tim Linden (OSU) Recent HAWC observations have found extended TeV emission coincident with the Geminga and Monogem pulsars. In this talk, I will show that these detections have significant implications for our understanding of pulsar emission. First, the spectrum and intensity of these "TeV Halos" indicates that a large fraction of the pulsar spindown energy is efficiently converted into electron-positron pairs. This provides observational evidence supporting pulsar interpretations of the rising positron fraction observed by PAMELA and AMS-02. Second, the isotropic nature of this emission provides a new avenue for detecting nearby pulsars with radio beams that are not oriented towards Earth. I will also discuss the implications of HAWC results for our understanding of the diffuse TeV gamma-ray and neutrino sky. McPherson 4054 America/New_York public

Recent HAWC observations have found extended TeV emission coincident with the Geminga and Monogem pulsars. In this talk, I will show that these detections have significant implications for our understanding of pulsar emission. First, the spectrum and intensity of these "TeV Halos" indicates that a large fraction of the pulsar spindown energy is efficiently converted into electron-positron pairs. This provides observational evidence supporting pulsar interpretations of the rising positron fraction observed by PAMELA and AMS-02. Second, the isotropic nature of this emission provides a new avenue for detecting nearby pulsars with radio beams that are not oriented towards Earth. I will also discuss the implications of HAWC results for our understanding of the diffuse TeV gamma-ray and neutrino sky.

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