White Dwarf Pulsars as Possible Cosmic Ray Electron-Positron Factories

Understand

We suggest that white dwarf (WD) pulsars can compete with neutron star (NS) pulsars for producing the excesses of cosmic ray electrons/positrons observed by the PAMELA, ATIC/PPB-BETS, Fermi and HESS experiments.

• A merger of two WDs leads to a rapidly spinning WD with a rotational energy comparable to the NS case.
• The birth rate is also similar, providing the right energy budget for the cosmic ray electrons/positrons.
• Applying the NS theory, we suggest that the WD pulsars can in principle produce electrons/positrons up to 10 TeV.