New Constraints on the Highest-Energy Cosmic-Ray Electrons and Positrons

Understand

At energies above a few TeV, no measurements of the cosmic-ray electron spectrum exist yet.

• By considering the similarity of air showers induced by electrons and gamma rays as seen by ground-based arrays, we use published limits on isotropic gamma-ray fluxes to place first constraints on the >10 TeV electron spectrum.
• We demonstrate that, due the proximity of known sources, the flux of such electrons (and positrons) can be large.
• We show how these smoothly connect to lower-energy positrons measured by PAMELA and relate to exciting new indications from Fermi.