TeV Gamma Rays From Galactic Center Pulsars

Understand

Measurements of the nearby pulsars Geminga and B0656+14 by the HAWC and Milagro telescopes have revealed the presence of bright TeV-emitting halos surrounding these objects.

• If young and middle-aged pulsars near the Galactic Center transfer a similar fraction of their energy into TeV photons, then these sources could plausibly dominate the emission that is observed by HESS and other ground-based telescopes from the innermost $\sim$$10^2$ parsecs of the Milky Way.
• In particular, both the spectral shape and the angular extent of this emission is consistent with TeV halos produced by a population of pulsars, although the reported correlation of this emission with the distribution of molecular gas suggests that diffuse hadronic processes also must contribute.
• The overall flux of this emission requires a birth rate of ~100-1000 neutron stars per Myr near the Galactic Center, in good agreement with recent estimates.