Cosmic Ray Positrons from Cosmic Strings

Brandenberger, Robert; Cai, Yi-Fu; Xue, Wei; Zhang, Xinmin

Cosmic Ray Positrons from Cosmic Strings

Authors

Brandenberger, Robert

Cai, Yi-Fu

Xue, Wei

Zhang, Xinmin

Description

We study the spectrum of cosmic ray positrons produced by a scaling distribution of non-superconducting cosmic strings. In this scenario, the positrons are produced from the jets which form from the cosmic string cusp annihilation process. The spectral shape is a robust feature of our scenario, and is in good agreement with the results from the recent PAMELA and ATIC experiments. In particular, the model predicts a sharp upper cutoff in the spectrum, and a flux which rises as the upper cutoff is approached. The energy at which the flux peaks is determined by the initial jet energy. The amplitude of the flux can be adjusted by changing the cosmic string tension and also depends on the cusp annihilation efficiency.
9 pages, 4 figures, 2 references added