Abstract

We present the most precise measurements to date for the spatial extension and energy spectrum of the γ-ray region between a pulsar's wind nebula and the interstellar medium, better known as the halo, present around Geminga and PSR B0656+14 (Monogem) using ∼2398 days of >1 TeV data collected by the HAWC observatory. We interpret the data using a physically motivated model for the diffuse γ-ray emission generated from positrons and electrons (e±) injected by the pulsar wind nebula and inverse Compton scattering with interstellar radiation fields. We find the morphologies of the regions inside these halos are characterized by an inhibited diffusion that are approximately three orders of magnitudes smaller than the Galactic average. We also obtain the e± emission efficiencies of 6.6% and 5.1%, respectively, for Geminga and Monogem. These results have remarkable consequences for the study of the particle diffusion in the region between the pulsar wind nebulae and the interstellar medium, and for the interpretation of the flux of positrons measured by the AMS-02 experiment above 10 GeV.

Department(s)

Physics

Publication Status

Open Access

Comments

National Science Foundation, Grant PRODEP-SEP UDG-CA-499

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1538-4357; 0004-637X

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 The Authors, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publication Date

01 Oct 2024

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