Spectral breaks as a signature of cosmic ray induced turbulence in the Galaxy

TL;DR

This paper explains the complex cosmic ray spectrum features as resulting from plasma physics phenomena, specifically transitions in turbulence regimes affecting cosmic ray transport in the Galaxy.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking spectral breaks in cosmic rays to transitions between different turbulence-driven transport regimes in the Galaxy.

Findings

Spectral break at ~10 GV due to transition from advection to diffusion.

Second break at ~200 GV caused by change from self-generated to cascade-driven turbulence.

Implications for cosmic ray spectrum, grammage, and anisotropy discussed.

Abstract

We show that the complex shape of the cosmic ray (CR) spectrum, as recently measured by PAMELA and inferred from Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of molecular clouds in the Gould belt, can be naturally understood in terms of basic plasma astrophysics phenomena. A break from a harder to a softer spectrum at blue rigidity R\simeq 10 GV follows from a transition from transport dominated by advection of particles with Alfven waves to a regime where diffusion in the turbulence generated by the same CRs is dominant. A second break at R\simeq 200 GV happens when the diffusive propagation is no longer determined by the self-generated turbulence, but rather by the cascading of externally generated turbulence (for instance due to supernova (SN) bubbles) from large spatial scales to smaller scales where CRs can resonate. Implications of this scenario for the cosmic ray spectrum, grammage and anisotropy are discussed.