Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1826357 | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment | 2011 | 4 Pages |
The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) recently measured the cosmic ray electrons-plus-positrons (CRE) spectrum between 20 GeV and 1 TeV. In this contribution we discuss several interpretations of those measurements in combination with other experimental data. We show that, as far as concerns the reported Fermi-LAT data alone, a simple interpretation invoking a single class of astrophysical electron sources is possible. If, however, also the CRE spectrum measured by H.E.S.S. and especially the positron fraction reported by PAMELA are accounted, that scenario fails to provide a combined description of those results. Rather, we show that several combinations of parameters, involving e±e± pair emission by pulsars or dark matter annihilation, allow a consistent interpretation of all data sets.