Exploring the possible gluon condensation signature in gamma-ray emission from pulsars

TL;DR

This paper investigates how gluon condensation, predicted by nonlinear QCD evolution, could produce distinctive features in gamma-ray spectra from pulsars, offering a potential signature of hadronic processes.

Contribution

It proposes that gluon condensation can significantly enhance proton-target interactions, leading to observable spectral signatures in pulsar gamma-ray emissions.

Findings

Gluon condensation may cause a broken power law in gamma-ray spectra.

Enhanced proton interactions could be detectable in pulsar observations.

Potential signature of hadronic processes in gamma-ray data.

Abstract

The very high energy gamma-ray emissions from pulsars are usually considered to be dominated by leptonic scenario since the hadronic flux is weak. We point out that the gluon condensation predicted by a nonlinear QCD evolution equation may greatly enhance the cross sections of proton-target interactions and give rise to a characteristic broken power law in the gamma-ray spectra. The result is used to explore the gluon condensation signature in the observed gamma-ray spectra from pulsars.