Gamma-Ray Production in the Extended Halo of the Galaxy and Possible Implications for the Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays

摘要

Various studies have implied the existence of a gaseous halo around the Galaxy extending out to ~100 kpc. Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) that propagate to the halo, either by diffusion or by convection with the possibly existing large-scale Galactic wind, can interact with the gas therein and produce gamma-rays via proton–proton collision. We calculate the CR distribution in the halo and the gamma-ray flux, and explore the dependence of the result on model parameters such as diffusion coefficient, CR luminosity, and CR spectral index. We find that the current measurement of isotropic gamma-ray background (IGRB) at TeV with the Fermi Large Area Telescope already approaches a level that can provide interesting constraints on the properties of Galactic CR (e.g., with CR luminosity L CR?≤?1041 erg s?1). We also discuss the possibilities of the Fermi bubble and IceCube neutrinos originating from the proton–proton collision between CRs and gas in the halo, as well as the implication of our results for the baryon budget of the hot circumgalactic medium of our Galaxy. Given that the isotropic gamma-ray background is likely to be dominated by unresolved extragalactic sources, future telescopes may extract more individual sources from the IGRB, and hence put even more stringent restrictions on the relevant quantities (such as Galactic CR luminosity and baryon budget in the halo) in the presence of a turbulent halo that we consider.