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Direct detection of a break in the teraelectronvolt cosmic-ray spectrum of electrons and positrons

6 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

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abstract

High energy cosmic ray electrons plus positrons (CREs), which lose energy quickly during their propagation, provide an ideal probe of Galactic high-energy processes and may enable the observation of phenomena such as dark-matter particle annihilation or decay. The CRE spectrum has been directly measured up to $\sim 2$ TeV in previous balloon- or space-borne experiments, and indirectly up to $\sim 5$ TeV by ground-based Cherenkov $\gamma$-ray telescope arrays. Evidence for a spectral break in the TeV energy range has been provided by indirect measurements of H.E.S.S., although the results were qualified by sizeable systematic uncertainties. Here we report a direct measurement of CREs in the energy range $25~{\rm GeV}-4.6~{\rm TeV}$ by the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) with unprecedentedly high energy resolution and low background. The majority of the spectrum can be properly fitted by a smoothly broken power-law model rather than a single power-law model. The direct detection of a spectral break at $E \sim0.9$ TeV confirms the evidence found by H.E.S.S., clarifies the behavior of the CRE spectrum at energies above 1 TeV and sheds light on the physical origin of the sub-TeV CREs.

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Guitar Nebula: extreme accelerator in extreme environment

astro-ph.HE · 2026-05-13 · unverdicted · novelty 4.0

The Guitar Nebula requires extreme acceleration with η_acc ≳ 3/4 and traverses a dense low-ionization shell from an old supernova remnant in the pressure-driven snowplow regime.

Dark Matter

hep-ph · 2024-06-03 · unverdicted · novelty 2.0

A review summarizing current observational, experimental, and theoretical results on dark matter.

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