Acceleration of $π$'s and $μ$'s modifies the flavor ratio at Earth (at astrophysical sources) of neutrinos produced by $π$ decay, $ν_e:ν_μ:ν_τ$, from $1:1:1$ ($1:2:0$) to $1:1.8:1.8$ ($0:1:0$) at high energy, because $π$'s decay more than $μ$'s during secondary-acceleration. The neutrino spectrum accompanies a flat excess, differently from the case of energy losses. With the flavor spectra, we can probe timescales of cosmic-ray acceleration and shock dynamics. We obtain general solutions of convection-diffusion equations and apply to gamma-ray bursts, which may have the flavor modification at around PeV -- EeV detectable by IceCube and next-generation experiments.
High-energy neutrino flares are interesting prospective counterparts to photon flares, as their detection would guarantee the presence of accelerated hadrons within a source, provide precious information about cosmic-ray acceleration and interactions, and thus impact the subsequent modeling of non-thermal emissions in explosive transients. In these sources, photomeson production can be efficient, producing a large amount of secondary particles, such as charged pions and muons, that decay and produce high-energy neutrinos. Before their decay, secondary particles can experience energy losses and…
We discuss the acceleration of secondary muons, pions, and kaons in gamma-ray bursts within the internal shock scenario, and their impact on the neutrino fluxes. We introduce a two-zone model consisting of an acceleration zone (the shocks) and a radiation zone (the plasma downstream the shocks). The acceleration in the shocks, which is an unavoidable consequence of the efficient proton acceleration, requires efficient transport from the radiation back to the acceleration zone. On the other hand, stochastic acceleration in the radiation zone can enhance the secondary spectra of muons and kaons …
We calculate the electron acceleration in random superluminal strong waves (SLSWs) and radiation from them by using numerical methods in the context of the termination shock of the pulsar wind nebulae. We pursue the electrons by solving the equation of motion in the analytically expressed electromagnetic turbulences. These consist of primary SLSW and isotropically distributed secondary electromagnetic waves. Under the dominance of the secondary waves, all electrons gain nearly equal energy. On the other hand, when the primary wave is dominant, selective acceleration occurs. The phase of the pr…
We discuss the acceleration and escape of secondary particles, especially positrons produced by hadronic interactions in a supernova remnant (SNR) shock. During the shock acceleration, protons would interact with ambient gas and produce charged secondary particles, which would also be accelerated in a SNR and injected into the interstellar medium as cosmic-rays (CRs). Some previous studies showed that the resulting positron spectrum at the SNR shock is harder than the primary proton spectrum, and proposed that the positron excess observed by PAMELA can be explained with this process. We calcul…
The secondary-to-primary B/C ratio is widely used to study the cosmic ray (CR) propagation processes in the Galaxy. It is usually assumed that secondary nuclei such as Li-Be-B are entirely generated by collisions of heavier CR nuclei with the interstellar medium (ISM). We study the CR propagation under a scenario where secondary nuclei can also be produced or accelerated from galactic sources. We consider the processes of hadronic interactions inside supernova remnants (SNRs) and re-acceleration of background CRs in strong shocks. Thus, we investigate their impact in the propagation parameter …
We review the physics of the highest energy cosmic rays. The discovery of their sources, still unknown, will reveal the most energetic astrophysical objects in the universe and could unveil new physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. We discuss the details of propagation of these high energy particles, their interaction with astrophysical photon backgrounds and intergalactic magnetic fields, and the production of secondary cosmogenic particles associated to their transport. We examine different models of acceleration, reviewing the principal astrophysical objects that could ener…
We test the synchrotron emission scenario for the very bright gamma-ray flare of blazar 3C 279 observed in 2015 June using time-dependent numerical simulations. A bulk Lorentz factor as high as 100 can bring the synchrotron maximum energy above the GeV energy range. We find two possible solutions for the X-ray to gamma-ray spectrum. One is a prompt electron injection model with a hard power-law index as magnetic reconnection models suggest. A too strong magnetic field yields a too bright synchrotron X-ray flux due to secondary electron--positron pairs. Even in the prompt electron injection mod…
The antiproton-to-proton ratio in the cosmic-ray spectrum is a sensitive probe of new physics. Using recent measurements of the cosmic-ray antiproton and proton fluxes in the energy range of 1-1000 GeV, we study the contribution to the $\bar{p}/p$ ratio from secondary antiprotons that are produced and subsequently accelerated within individual supernova remnants. We consider several well-motivated models for cosmic-ray propagation in the interstellar medium and marginalize our results over the uncertainties related to the antiproton production cross section and the time-, charge-, and energy-d…
Precise measurements of the boron-to-carbon and boron-to-oxygen ratios by DAMPE show clear hardenings around $100$ GeV/n, which provide important implications on the production, propagation, and interaction of Galactic cosmic rays. In this work we investigate a number of models proposed in literature in light of the DAMPE findings. These models can roughly be classified into two classes, driven by propagation effects or by source ones. Among these models discussed, we find that the re-acceleration of cosmic rays, during their propagation, by random magnetohydrodynamic waves may not reproduce s…
We derive an upper limit to the energy of nuclei accelerated via the Fermi mechanism in any relativistic shockwave, driven by any astrophysical engine. This bound is accessible to current and upcoming ultra-high energy neutrino experiments. Detection of a single neutrino with energy above the upper limit would exclude all sites of shock acceleration, and imply physics beyond the Standard Model. We comment on the possibility that relativistic flows launched by supermassive black hole mergers are the source of the observed ultra-high energy cosmic rays.
We compute the energy spectra of antideuterons and antihelium in cosmic rays (CRs) in a scenario where hadronic interactions inside supernova remnants (SNRs) can produce a diffusively-shock-accelerated "source component" of secondary antinuclei. The key parameters that specify the SNR environment and the interstellar CR transport are tightly constrained with the new measurements provided by the AMS experiment on the B/C ratio and on the antiproton/proton ratio. The best-fit models obtained from the two ratios are found to be inconsistent with each other, as the antiproton/proton data require e…
The diffuse $γ$-ray spectrum at sub-PeV energy region has been measured for the first time by the Tibet-AS$γ$ experiment. It will shed new light on the understanding of origin and propagation of Galactic cosmic rays at very high energies. It has been pointed out that the traditional cosmic ray propagation model based on low energy measurements undershoot the new data, and modifications of the model with new ingredients or alternative propagation framework is required. In this work, we propose that the hadronic interactions between freshly accelerated cosmic rays and the medium surrounding the …
We reanalyze the prompt muon neutrino flux from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), at the example of the often used reference Waxman-Bahcall GRB flux, in terms of the particle physics involved. We first reproduce this reference flux treating synchrotron energy losses of the secondary pions explicitly. Then we include additional neutrino production modes, the neutrinos from muon decays, the magnetic field effects on all secondary species, and flavor mixing with the current parameter uncertainties. We demonstrate that the combination of these effects modifies the shape of the original Waxman-Bahcall GRB f…
The ratio between secondary and primary cosmic ray particles is the main source of information about cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy. Primary cosmic rays are thought to be accelerated mainly in Supernova Remnant (SNR) shocks and then released in the interstellar medium (ISM). Here they produce secondary particles by occasional collisions with interstellar matter. As a result, the ratio between the fluxes of secondary and primary particles carries information about the amount of matter cosmic rays have encountered during their journey from their sources to Earth. Recent measurements by AMS…
Recent gamma-ray observations of middle-aged supernova remnants revealed a mysterious broken power-law spectrum. Using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulations, we show that the interaction between a supernova blast wave and interstellar clouds formed by thermal instability generates multiple reflected shocks. The typical Mach numbers of the reflected shocks are shown to be M ~ 2 depending on the density contrast between the diffuse intercloud gas and clouds. These secondary shocks can further energize cosmic-ray particles originally accelerated at the blast-wave shock. This "two-ste…
We investigate the motion of the primary beam outside the light cylinder in the pulsar wind. Inside the light cylinder both primary and secondary plasma move along dipole magnetic field lines where their energies can be arbitrary. But at larger distances the theory predicts quasi-radial motion with the velocity exactly corresponding to the drift velocity which cannot be the same for primary and secondary plasma. Hence, the deceleration of the primary beam is to take place simultaneously resulting in the acceleration of the secondary plasma. We investigate this process in the three-fluid MHD ap…
Secondary photons and neutrinos produced in the interactions of cosmic ray protons emitted by distant Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with the photon background along the line of sight can reveal a wealth of new information about the intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMF), extragalactic background light (EBL), and the acceleration mechanisms of cosmic rays. The secondary photons may have already been observed by gamma-ray telescopes. We show that the secondary neutrinos improve the prospects of discovering distant blazars by IceCube, and we discuss the ramifications for the cosmic backgrounds, magn…
In the next years the FERMI gamma ray telescope and the Cherenkov telescopes will put very stringent constraints to models of gamma ray emission from galaxy clusters providing crucial information on relativistic particles in the inter-galactic-medium. We derive the broad band non-thermal spectrum of galaxy clusters in the context of general calculations in which relativistic particles (protons and secondary electrons due to proton-proton collisions) interact with MHD turbulence generated in the cluster volume during cluster mergers, and discuss the importance of future gamma ray observations.
Thunderstorms produce strong electric fields over regions on the order of kilometer. The corresponding electric potential differences are on the order of 100 MV. Secondary cosmic rays reaching these regions may be significantly accelerated and even amplified in relativistic runaway avalanche processes. These phenomena lead to enhancements of the high-energy background radiation observed by detectors on the ground and on board aircraft. Moreover, intense submillisecond gamma-ray bursts named terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) produced in thunderstorms are detected from low Earth orbit satelli…
A new nonthermal phenomenon caused by streaming cosmic rays (CRs) in the universe is proposed. The streaming CRs drive the return current of thermal electrons to compensate for the CR current. Then, electric fields are induced by the resistivity of the return current. It is shown that the resistive electric fields can accelerate secondary electrons generated by the streaming CRs. This is the self-discharge by streaming CRs. In this work, the self-discharge condition and the condition for runaway acceleration of secondary electrons are presented. The self-discharge makes high-energy secondary e…
Recent observations of high energy cosmic-ray electrons by the Fermi-LAT and the HESS experiments between $20$ GeV and $5$ TeV have found that the energy spectrum closely follow a broken power-law with a break at around $1$ TeV. On the other hand, measurements of cosmic-ray secondary-to-primary ratios like the boron-to-carbon ratio seem to indicate a possible change in the slope at energies around $100$ GeV/n. In this paper, we discuss one possible explanation for the observed break in the electron spectrum and its possible correlation with the flattening in the secondary-to-primary ratios at …
We discuss the acceleration and escape of secondary cosmic-ray (CR) nuclei, such as lithium, beryllium and boron, produced by spallation of primary CR nuclei like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen accelerated at the shock in supernova remnants (SNRs) surrounded by the interstellar medium (ISM) or a circumstellar medium (CSM). We take into account the energy-dependent escape of CR particles from the SNR shocks, which is supported by gamma-ray observations of SNRs, to calculate the spectra of primary and secondary CR nuclei running away into the ambient medium. We find that if the SNR is surrounded b…
We investigate the saturation of particle acceleration in relativistic reconnection using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations at various magnetizations σ. We find that the particle energy spectrum produced in reconnection quickly saturates as a hard power law that cuts off at γ~4σ, confirming previous work. Using particle tracing, we find that particle acceleration by the reconnection electric field in X-points determines the shape of the particle energy spectrum. By analyzing the current sheet structure, we show that physical cause of saturation is the spontaneous formation of second…
The ratio of the fluxes of secondary and primary nuclei in cosmic rays has long been used as an indicator of the grammage traversed in the journey of cosmic ray particles throughout the Galaxy. The basic idea is that primary particles are accelerated in astrophysical sources, such as supernova remnant shocks and eventually propagate in the Galactic volume, occasionally interacting with gas, mainly in the disc of the Galaxy, and there they produce secondary nuclei through spallation. At sufficiently high energy, typically $\gtrsim 100$ GeV/n, the ratio of fluxes of the secondary nucleus to that…
The physics of energetic particle propagation in magnetised environments plays a crucial role in both the processes of acceleration and transport of cosmic rays. Recent theoretical developments in the field of cosmic ray research have been mainly in the direction of exploring non-linear aspects of the processes in which these particles are involved, namely the action of cosmic rays on the environment in which the transport and/or acceleration take place. When cosmic rays propagate outside of the acceleration region, such action is mainly in two forms: 1) they generate hydromagnetic waves, thro…
We discuss the prospects for a progress to be brought by ASTRO-H in the understanding of the physics of particle acceleration in astrophysical environments. Particular emphasis will be put on the synergy with gamma-ray astronomy, in the context of the rapid developments of recent years. Selected topics include: shock acceleration in supernova remnants (SNRs) and in clusters of galaxies, and the extreme particle acceleration seen in gamma-ray binaries. Since the hydrodynamics and thermal properties of shocks in these objects are covered in other white papers, we focus on the aspects related to …
We show that the positron excess measured by the PAMELA experiment in the region between 10 and 100 GeV may well be a natural consequence of the standard scenario for the origin of Galactic cosmic rays. The 'excess' arises because of positrons created as secondary products of hadronic interactions inside the sources, but the crucial physical ingredient which leads to a natural explanation of the positron flux is the fact that the secondary production takes place in the same region where cosmic rays are being accelerated. Therefore secondary positrons (and electrons) participate in the accelera…
The accretion of matter onto intermediate polar White Dwarfs (IPWDs) seems to provide attractive conditions for acceleration of particles to high energies in a strongly magnetized turbulent region at the accretion disk inner radius. We consider possible acceleration of electrons and hadrons in such region and investigate their high energy radiation processes. It is concluded that accelerated electrons loose energy mainly on synchrotron process producing non-thermal X-ray emission. On the other hand, accelerated hadrons are convected onto the WD surface and interact with dense matter. As a resu…
Astrophysical objects such as active-galactic nuclei (AGN) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be sources of high energy, astrophysical neutrinos. The decay of charged pions produces electron and muon-flavor neutrinos from the primary decay of the pion, and from the secondary decay of the resulting charged lepton. At low energies we expect the flavor ratio $Φ_{ν_e}:Φ_{ν_μ}:Φ_{ν_τ}$ to be $1:2:0$ at the source. We are interested in the flavor ratios as measured on Earth after the neutrinos propagate over cosmic distance scales from the source. If we only consider vacuum flavor transition probabilit…
There are still some important unanswered questions about the detailed particle acceleration and escape occurring during the quiescent epoches. As a result, the particle distribution that is adopted in the blazar quiescent spectral model have numerous unconstrained shapes. To help remedy this problem, we introduce a analytical particle transport model to reproduce quiescent broadband spectral energy distribution of blazar. In this model, the exact electron distribution is solved from a generalized transport equation that contains the terms describing first-order and secondary-order \emph{Fermi…
We performed kinetic simulations of diffusive shock acceleration in Type Ia supernova remnants (SNRs) expanding into a uniform interstellar medium (ISM). The preshock gas temperature is the primary parameter that governs the cosmic ray (CR) acceleration, while magnetic field strength and CR injection rate are secondary parameters. SNRs in the hot ISM, with an injection fraction smaller than 10^{-4}, are inefficient accelerators with less than 10 % energy getting converted to CRs. The shock structure is almost test-particle like and the ensuing CR spectrum can be steeper than E^{-2}. Although t…
We show that the secondary electrons ejected from the ionization of heavy ions can be injected into the acceleration process that occurs at supernova remnant shocks. This electron injection mechanism works since ions are ionized during the acceleration when they move already with relativistic speed, just like ejected electrons do. Using the abundances of heavy nuclei measured in cosmic rays at Earth, we estimate the electron/proton ratio at the source to be ~10^-4, big enough to account for the nonthermal synchrotron emission observed in young SNRs. We also show that the ionization process can…
We develop a fully three dimensional numerical code describing the diffusion of cosmic rays in the Milky Way. It includes the nuclear spallation chain up to Oxygen, and allows the study of various cosmic ray properties, such as the CR age, grammage traversed, and the ratio between secondary and primary particles. This code enables us to explore a model in which a large fraction of the cosmic ray acceleration takes place in the vicinity of galactic spiral arms and that these spiral arms are dynamic. We show that the effect of having dynamic spiral arms is to limit the age of cosmic rays at low …
We revisit the model proposed earlier to account for the observed increase in the positron fraction in cosmic rays with increasing energy, in the light of new data from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) experiment. The model accounts for the production and acceleration of secondary electrons and positrons in nearby supernova remnants which results in an additional, harder component that becomes dominant at high energies. By fitting this to AMS-02 data we can calculate the expected concomitant rise of the boron-to-carbon ratio, as well as of the fraction of antiprotons. If these predicti…
Clusters of galaxies are believed to be capable to accelerate protons at accretion shocks to energies exceeding 10^18 eV. At these energies, the losses caused by interactions of cosmic rays with photons of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) become effective and determine the maximum energy of protons and the shape of the energy spectrum in the cutoff region. The aim of this work is the study of the formation of the energy spectrum of accelerated protons at accretion shocks of galaxy clusters and of the characteristics of their broad band emission. The proton energy distribution i…
High energy photons from blazars interact within tens of kpc with the extragalactic photon background, initiating electromagnetic pair cascades. The charged component of such cascades is deflected by extragalactic magnetic fields (EGMF), leading to halos even around initially point-like sources. We calculate the intensity profile of the resulting secondary high-energy photons for different assumptions on the initial source spectrum and the strength of the EGMF, employing also fields found earlier in a constrained simulation of structure formation including MHD processes. We find that the obser…
In this work the efficiency of particle acceleration at the forward shock right after the SN outburst for the particular case of the well-known SN 1993J is analyzed. Plasma instabilities driven by the energetic particles accelerated at the shock front grow over intraday timescales and drive a fast amplification of the magnetic field at the shock, that can explain the magnetic field strengths deduced from the radio monitoring of the source. The maximum particle energy is found to reach 1-10 PeV depending on the instability dominating the amplification process. We derive the time dependent parti…
The origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) remains elusive. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the best candidates able to meet the stringent energy requirements needed for particle acceleration to such high energies. If UHECRs were accelerated by the central engine of GRB 221009A, it might be possible to detect secondary photons and neutrinos as the UHECRs travel from the source to the Earth. Here we attempt to interpret some of the early publicly available data connected to this burst. If the reported early GeV-TeV detection was produced by secondary emission from UHECRs it probably…
Measuring the Astrophysical Galactic Plane Neutrino Flux and Searching for Galactic PeVatrons using the IceCube Multi-Flavor Astrophysical Neutrino Sample
We study the acceleration of CR protons and nuclei at GRB internal shocks. Physical quantities and their time evolution are estimated using the internal shock modeling implemented by Daigne & Mochkovitch 1998. We consider different hypotheses about the way the energy dissipated at internal shocks is shared between accelerated CR, e- and B field. We model CR acceleration at mildly relativistic shocks, including all the significant energy loss processes. We calculate CR and neutrino release from single GRBs, assuming that nuclei heavier than protons are present in the relativistic wind. Protons …
The origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is one of the most mystifying issues in astroparticle physics. It has been suggested that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are excellent acceleration sites for cosmic rays. The propagation of UHECRs from the GRB host galaxy to the Earth should generate delayed secondary photons and neutrinos. Here we present a dedicated search for delayed UHECR and neutrino emission centered around the position of nearby GRB 980425/SN 1998bw. Located at a distance of 36.9 Mpc, GRB 980425/SN 1998bw is well within the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) distance horizon. We …
Plasmoids -- magnetized quasi-circular structures formed self-consistently in reconnecting current sheets -- were previously considered to be the graveyards of energetic particles. In this paper, we demonstrate the important role of plasmoids in shaping the particle energy spectrum in relativistic reconnection (i.e., with upstream magnetization $σ_{\rm up} \gg 1$). Using two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in pair plasmas with $σ_{\rm up}=10$ and $100$, we study a secondary particle energization process that takes place inside compressing plasmoids. We demonstrate that plasmoids grow …
We discuss recent observations of high energy cosmic ray positrons and electrons in the context of hadronic interactions in supernova remnants, the suspected accelerators of galactic cosmic rays. Diffusive shock acceleration can harden the energy spectrum of secondary positrons relative to that of the primary protons (and electrons) and thus explain the rise in the positron fraction observed by PAMELA above 10 GeV. We normalize the hadronic interaction rate by holding pion decay to be responsible for the gamma-rays detected by HESS from some SNRs. By simulating the spatial and temporal distrib…
The distribution function describing the acceleration of relativistic particles in an advection-dominated accretion disk is analyzed using a transport formalism that includes first-order Fermi acceleration, advection, spatial diffusion, and the escape of particles through the upper and lower surfaces of the disk. When a centrifugally-supported shock is present in the disk, the concentrated particle acceleration occurring in the vicinity of the shock channels a significant fraction of the binding energy of the accreting gas into a population of relativistic particles. These high-energy particle…
Monte Carlo Simulations of Secondary Cosmic-Ray Variations in Atmospheric Electric Fields : Implications for Long Duration Electron and Gamma-ray Emissions from Thunderclouds
Nuclear Science and Engineering Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency（日本原子力机构核科学与工程学院）
The optical and near-IR emission from some classes of supernovae (SNe), including Type IIn and possibly some super-luminous SNe, is likely powered by a collision between the SN ejecta and dense circumstellar material (CSM). We argue that for a range of CSM masses and their radii, a collisionless shock can form, allowing for efficient cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration. We show that pp collisions between these newly accelerated CRs and the CSM leads to not only gamma rays but also secondary electrons and positrons that radiate synchrotron photons in the high-frequency radio bands. Our estimates imply…
We discuss neutrino fluxes and energy dependent flavor ratios of cosmic accelerators as a function of the size of the acceleration region and the magnetic field, which are the parameters of the Hillas plot. We assume that photohadronic interactions between Fermi accelerated protons and synchrotron photons from co-accelerated electrons (or positrons) lead to charged pion production. We include synchrotron cooling of the charged pions and successively produced muons, which then further decay into neutrinos, as well as the helicity dependence of the muon decays. Our photohadronic interaction mode…
Even small solar flares can display a surprising level of complexity regarding their morphology and temporal evolution. Many of their properties, such as energy release and electron acceleration can be studied using highly complementary observations at X-ray and radio wavelengths. We present X-ray observations from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) and radio observations from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) of a series of GOES A3.4 to B1.6 class flares observed on 2013 April 23. The flares, as seen in X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (EUV), originated fro…
We present an MHD simulation of the emergence of a radio minihalo in a galaxy cluster core in a "secondary" model, where the source of the synchrotron-emitting electrons is hadronic interactions between cosmic-ray protons with the thermal intracluster gas, an alternative to the "reacceleration model" where the cosmic ray electrons are reaccelerated by turbulence induced by core sloshing, which we discussed in an earlier work. We follow the evolution of cosmic-ray electron spectra and their radio emission using passive tracer particles, taking into account the time-dependent injection of electr…
Magnetic reconnection and non-thermal particle distributions associated with current-driven instabilities are investigated by means of resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations combined with relativistic test particle methods. We propose a system with two parallel, repelling current channels in an initially force-free equilibrium, as a simplified representation of flux ropes in a stellar magnetosphere. The current channels undergo a rotation and separation on Alfvénic timescales, forming secondary islands and (up to tearing unstable) current sheets in which non-thermal energy distributi…
In strongly magnetized astrophysical plasma systems, magnetic reconnection is believed to be a primary process during which explosive energy release and particle acceleration occur, leading to significant high-energy emission. Past years have witnessed active development of kinetic modeling of relativistic magnetic reconnection, supporting this magnetically dominated scenario. A much less explored issue is the consequence of 3D dynamics, where turbulent structures are naturally generated as various types of instabilities develop. This paper presents a series of 3D, fully-kinetic simulations of…
The rapid rise in the cosmic ray positron fraction above 10 GeV, as measured by PAMELA and AMS, suggests the existence of nearby primary sources of high energy positrons, such as pulsars or annihilating/decaying dark matter. In contrast, the spectrum of secondary positrons produced through the collisions of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium is predicted to fall rapidly with energy, and thus is unable to account for the observed rise. It has been proposed, however, that secondary positrons could be produced and then accelerated in nearby supernova remnants, potentially explaining the obser…
