Millisecond pulsars have been discussed as a possible source of the gamma-rayexcess observed from the region surrounding the Galactic Center. With this inmind, we use the observed population of bright low-mass X-ray binaries toestimate the number of millisecond pulsars in the Inner Galaxy. Thiscalculation suggests that only ~1-5% of the excess is produced by millisecondpulsars. We also use the luminosity function derived from local measurements ofmillisecond pulsars, along with the number of point sources resolved by Fermi,to calculate an upper limit for the diffuse emission from such a population.While this limit is compatible with the millisecond pulsar population impliedby the number of low-mass X-ray binaries, it strongly excludes the possibilitythat most of the excess originates from such objects.
展开▼
