Cosmic-ray helium hardening

Abstract

Recent observations by the CREAM and ATIC-2 experiments suggest that (1) the spectrum of cosmic-ray (CR) helium is harder than that of CR protons below the knee energy, 1015eV, and (2) all CR spectra become hard at ≳1011eV nucleon-1. We propose a new idea, that higher energy CRs are generated in a more helium-rich region, to explain the hardening without introducing different sources for CR helium. The helium-to-proton ratio at 100 TeV exceeds the Big Bang abundance Y = 0.25 by several times, and the different spectrum is not reproduced within the diffusive shock acceleration theory. We argue that CRs are produced in a chemically enriched region, such as a superbubble, and the outward-decreasing abundance naturally leads to the hard spectrum of CR helium if CRs escape from the supernova remnant shock in an energy-dependent way. We provide a simple analytical spectrum that also fits well the hardening due to the decreasing Mach number in the hot superbubble with 106 K. Our model predicts hard and concave spectra for heavier CR elements. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.