Journal article
TeV solar gamma rays from cosmic-ray interactions
Physical Review D, Vol.96(2), 023015
Jul/2017
Abstract
The Sun is a bright source of GeV gammarays, due to cosmic rays interacting with solar matter and photons. Key aspects of the underlying processes remain mysterious. The emission in the TeV range, for which there are neither observational nor theoretical studies, could provide crucial clues. The new experiments HAWC (running) and LHAASO(planned) can look at the Sun with unprecedented sensitivity. In this paper, we predict the very high-energy (up to 1000 TeV) gamma-ray flux fromthe solar disk and halo, due to cosmic-ray hadrons and electrons ( e(+) + e(-)), respectively. We neglect solar magnetic effects, which is valid at TeV energies; at lower energies, this gives a theoretical lower bound on the disk flux and a theoretical upper bound on the halo flux. We show that the solar-halo gamma-ray flux allows the first test of the similar to 5-70 TeV cosmic-ray electron spectrum. Further, we show that HAWC can immediately make an even stronger test with nondirectional observations of cosmic-ray electrons. Together, these gamma-ray and electron studies will provide new insights about the local density of cosmic rays and their interactions with the Sun and its magnetic environment. These studies will also be an important input to tests of new physics, including dark matter.
Details
- Title
- TeV solar gamma rays from cosmic-ray interactions
- Creators
- Bei Zhou (null)Kenny C. Y. Ng (null)John F. Beacom (null)Annika H. G. Peter (null)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Physical Review D, Vol.96(2), 023015; Jul/2017
- Number of pages
- 12
- Language
- English
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.96.023015
- Grant note
- Ohio State University; NASA [NNX13AP49G]; Ohio State's Presidential Fellowship; NSF [PHY-1404311]We thank Andrea Albert, Mauricio Bustamante, Rebecca Leane, Shirley Li, Shoko Miyake, Carsten Rott, Qingwen Tang, and especially Segev BenZvi, Igor Moskalenko, Elena Orlando, and Andrew Strong for helpful discussions. B. Z. was supported by Ohio State University's Fowler and University Fellowships. K. C. Y. N. was supported by NASA Grant No. NNX13AP49G, Ohio State's Presidential Fellowship, and NSF Grant No. PHY-1404311. J. F. B. was supported by NSF Grant No. PHY-1404311. A. H. G. P. was supported by NASA Grant No. NNX13AP49G. We thank Andrea Albert, Mauricio Bustamante, Rebecca Leane, Shirley Li, Shoko Miyake, Carsten Rott, Qingwen Tang, and especially Segev BenZvi, Igor Moskalenko, Elena Orlando, and Andrew Strong for helpful discussions. B. Z. was supported by Ohio State University's Fowler and University Fellowships. K. C. Y. N. was supported by NASA Grant No. NNX13AP49G, Ohio State's Presidential Fellowship, and NSF Grant No. PHY-1404311. J. F. B. was supported by NSF Grant No. PHY-1404311. A. H. G. P. was supported by NASA Grant No. NNX13AP49G._ALMAME_DELIMITER_
- Record Identifier
- 993266870303596
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