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Title: Millisecond Pulsar Origin of the Galactic Center Excess and Extended Gamma-Ray Emission from Andromeda: A Closer Look

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [6];  [7]; ORCiD logo [8];  [9]; ORCiD logo [9]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Univ. of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica (Slovenia)
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming (People's Republic of China); Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (People's Republic of China)
  3. Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc & CNRS, Annecy Cedex (France)
  4. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  5. Univ. of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica (Slovenia); Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - Sezione Trieste, Trieste (Italy)
  6. Univ. Paul Sabatier, Toulouse Cedex (France)
  7. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
  8. Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  9. Univ. of Novi Sad, Novi Sad (Serbia)

A new measurement of a spatially extended gamma-ray signal from the center of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) has recently been published by the Fermi-LAT collaboration, reporting that the emission broadly resembles the so-called Galactic center excess (GCE) of the Milky Way (MW). The weight of the evidence is steadily accumulating on a millisecond pulsar (MSPs) origin for the GCE. These elements prompt us to compare these observations with what is, perhaps, the simplest model for an MSP population, which is solely obtained by rescaling of the MSP luminosity function that is determined in the local MW disk via the respective stellar mass of the systems. Remarkably, we find that without free fitting parameters, this model can account for both the energetics and the morphology of the GCE within uncertainties. For M31, the estimated luminosity due to primordial MSPs is expected to only contribute about a quarter of the detected emission, although a stronger contribution cannot be excluded given the large uncertainties. If correct, the model predicts that the M31 disk emission due to MSPs is not far below the present upper bound. We also discuss additional refinements of this simple model. Using the correlation between globular cluster gamma-ray luminosity and stellar encounter rate, we gauge the dynamical MSP formation in the bulge. This component is expected to contribute to the GCE only at a level of ≲5%, it could affect the signal's morphology. In conclusion, we also comment on the limitations of our model and on future perspectives for improved diagnostics.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1468959
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 862; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Probing the Fermi-LAT GeV Excess with Gravitational Waves journal March 2019
Bayesian model comparison and analysis of the Galactic disc population of gamma-ray millisecond pulsars journal September 2018
Millisecond Pulsars and the Gamma-Ray Excess in Andromeda journal January 2019
Probing the Fermi-LAT GeV excess with gravitational waves text January 2018
Massive White Dwarfs in the Galactic Center: A Chandra X-Ray Spectroscopy of Cataclysmic Variables journal September 2019
Search for γ -ray emission from dark matter particle interactions from the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope journal June 2019
Inverse Compton emission from millisecond pulsars in the Galactic bulge journal June 2019
Characterizing the nature of the unresolved point sources in the Galactic Center: An assessment of systematic uncertainties journal January 2020
Bayesian Model Comparison and Analysis of the Galactic Disk Population of Gamma-Ray Millisecond Pulsars text January 2018