TeV halos and the role of pulsar wind nebulae as sources of cosmic-ray positrons

Abstract

The recent detection of the Geminga pulsar wind nebula (PWN) by HAWC in the multi-TeV band allows us to infer precious information about the transport of pairs in the immediate surroundings of the pulsar and on the spectrum of pairs contributed by a Geminga-like pulsar to the spectrum of pairs in the cosmic radiation. Moreover, this detection allows us to address the issue of how typical are the so-called TeV halos associated to pulsar wind nebulae. Our calculations confirm the need to have suppressed diffusion in a region of at least 20--50 pc around the pulsar, and are used here to infer precious constraints on the spectrum of pairs accelerated at the termination shock: more specifically, we discuss the conditions under which such a spectrum is consistent with that typically expected in a PWN and how it gets modified once it escapes the halo. Finally, we discuss the implications of the existence of a TeV halo around Geminga in terms of acceleration of protons in the pulsar environment, a topic of profound relevance for the whole field of particle acceleration and physics of pulsars.