The Theoretical Power Law Exponent for Electron and Positron Cosmic Rays: A Comment on the Recent Letter of the AMS Collaboration

TL;DR

This paper discusses the close agreement between the experimentally measured and theoretically predicted power law exponent of electron and positron cosmic ray energy distributions, shedding light on their sources.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical calculation of the power law exponent that matches recent experimental measurements by the AMS collaboration.

Findings

Experimental exponent: 3.17

Theoretical exponent: 3.151374

Good agreement between theory and experiment

Abstract

In a recent letter, the AMS collaboration reported the detailed and extensive data concerning the distribution in energy of electron and positron cosmic rays. A central result of the experimental work resides in the energy regime $30\ {\rm GeV}< E < 1\ {\rm TeV}$ wherein the power law exponent of the energy distribution is measured to be $\alpha ({\rm experiment})=3.17$. In virtue of the Fermi statistics obeyed by electrons and positrons, a theoretical value was predicted as $\alpha ({\rm theory})=3.151374$ in very good agreement with experimental data. The consequences of this agreement between theory and experiment concerning the sources of cosmic ray electrons and positrons are briefly explored.