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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/7263
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dc.contributor.authorRecchia, S.-
dc.contributor.authorPhan, V. H. M.-
dc.contributor.authorBiswas, Sayan-
dc.contributor.authorGabici, S.-
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-05T17:58:32Z-
dc.date.available2019-08-05T17:58:32Z-
dc.date.issued2019-05-
dc.identifier.citationMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2019, Vol.485, p2276–2280en_US
dc.identifier.issn0035-8711-
dc.identifier.issn1365-2966 - (online)-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2289/7263-
dc.descriptionOpen Accessen_US
dc.description.abstractLow-energy cosmic rays are the major ionization agents of molecular clouds. However, it has been shown that, if the cosmic ray spectrum measured by Voyager 1 is representative of the whole Galaxy, the predicted ionization rate in diffuse clouds fails to reproduce data by 1–2 orders of magnitude, implying that an additional source of ionization must exist. One of the solutions proposed to explain this discrepancy is based on the existence of an unknown low-energy (in the range 1 keV–1 MeV, not probed by Voyager) cosmic ray component, called carrot when first hypothesized by Reeves and collaborators in the seventies. Here we investigate the energetic required by such scenario. We show that the power needed to maintain such low-energy component is comparable of even larger than that needed to explain the entire observed cosmic ray spectrum. Moreover, if the interstellar turbulent magnetic field has to sustain a carrot, through second-order Fermi acceleration, the required turbulence level would be definitely too large compared to the one expected at the scale resonant with such low-energy particles. Our study basically rules out all the plausible sources of a cosmic ray carrot, thus making such hidden component unlikely to be an appealing and viable source of ionization in molecular clouds.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherOxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Societyen_US
dc.relation.urihttps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019MNRAS.485.2276R/abstracten_US
dc.relation.urihttps://arxiv.org/abs/1901.04912en_US
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz555en_US
dc.rights2019 The Author(s)en_US
dc.subjectISM: cloudsen_US
dc.subjectcosmic raysen_US
dc.subjectISM: magnetic fieldsen_US
dc.titleCan a cosmic ray carrot explain the ionization level in diffuse molecular clouds?en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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