GeV–TeV Cosmic-Ray Leptons in the Solar System from the Bow Shock Wind Nebula of the Nearest Millisecond Pulsar J0437–4715

Abstract

Abstract We consider the acceleration of leptons up to GeV–TeV energies in the bow shock wind nebula of PSR J0437–4715 and their subsequent diffusion through the interstellar magnetic fields. The leptons accelerated at the pulsar wind termination surface are injected into re-acceleration in colliding shock flows. Modeled spectra of synchrotron emission from the accelerated electrons and positrons are consistent with the far-ultraviolet and X-ray observations of the nebula carried out with the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory. These observations are employed to constrain the absolute fluxes of relativistic leptons, which are escaping from the nebula and eventually reaching the solar system after energy-dependent diffusion through the local interstellar medium accompanied by synchrotron and Compton losses. It is shown that accelerated leptons from the nebula of PSR J0437–4715 can be responsible both for the enhancement of the positron fraction above a few GeV detected by PAMELA and AMS-02 spectrometers and for the TeV range lepton fluxes observed with H.E.S.S., VERITAS, Fermi, CALET, and DAMPE.