Does the Geminga, Monogem and PSR J0622+3749 $\gamma$-ray halos imply slow diffusion around pulsars?

TL;DR

This study models cosmic-ray lepton propagation near pulsars considering both ballistic and diffusive regimes, showing that extended gamma-ray halos can be explained without assuming slow diffusion, challenging previous interpretations.

Contribution

It introduces a combined ballistic-diffusive propagation model for leptons near pulsars, providing an alternative explanation for gamma-ray halos without requiring suppressed diffusion coefficients.

Findings

Ballistic propagation dominates for high-energy particles within tens of parsecs.

Gamma-ray halos can be explained with normal diffusion coefficients when ballistic transport is considered.

No need to assume slow diffusion around pulsars to match gamma-ray observations.

Abstract

The HAWC Collaboration has reported the detection of an extended $\gamma$-ray emission around the Geminga and Monogem pulsars of a few degree extension. Very recently, the LHAASO Collaboration released also the data for an extended $\gamma$-ray emission around the pulsar PSR J0622+3749. This flux can be explained with electrons and positrons injected from these sources and their inverse Compton Scattering on the interstellar radiation fields. So far the size of such $\gamma-$ray halos has been interpreted as the result of the diffusion coefficient around the sources being about two orders of magnitude smaller than the average in the Galaxy. However, this conclusion is driven by the assumption that particles propagate diffusively right away after the injection without taking into account the ballistic propagation. The propagation of cosmic-ray leptons in the proximity of the Geminga, Monogem and PSR J0622+3749 pulsars is examined here considering the transition from the quasi-ballistic, valid for the most recently injected particles, to the diffusive transport regime. For typical interstellar values of the diffusion coefficient, the quasi-ballistic regime dominates the lepton distribution up to distances of a few tens of parsec from the pulsar for particle energies above $\sim 10$ TeV. In this regime the resulting $\gamma-$ray source tends to be rather compact, despite particles travel a long distance. Indeed, for larger values of the diffusion coefficient, particles propagate ballistically up to larger distances with the result of a more point-like $\gamma-$ray source. When such transition is taken into account, a good fit to the HAWC and LHAASO $\gamma-$ray data around Geminga, Monogem and PSR J0622+3749 is obtained without the need to invoke a strong suppression of the diffusion coefficient.