Gamma-rays from pulsar wind nebulae in starburst galaxies

Recently, gamma-ray emission at TeV energies has been detected from the starburst galaxies NGC253 (Acero et al., 2009) [1] and M82 (Acciari et al., 2009) [2]. It has been claimed that pion production due to cosmic rays accelerated in supernova remnants interacting with the interstellar gas is responsible for the observed gamma rays. Here, we show that the gamma-ray pulsar wind nebulae left behind by the supernovae contribute to the TeV luminosity in a major way. A single pulsar wind nebula produces about ten times the total luminosity of the Sun at energies above 1 TeV during a lifetime of 105 years. A large number of 3 × 104 pulsar wind nebulae expected in a typical starburst galaxy at a distance of 4 Mpc can readily produce the observed TeV gamma rays.

► We compare the gamma-ray spectrum from pulsar wind nebulae and cosmic rays in starburst galaxies. ► The gamma-ray luminosity depends only on the supernova rate. ► We show that the pulsar wind nebula emission dominates the luminosity at TeV energies.