http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.10337
Observations of the vicinity of a variety of galactic gamma-ray sources have indicated a local suppression of diffusivity of cosmic rays by up to three orders of magnitude. However, the impact of these low-diffusion zones on \emph{global} properties of cosmic-ray transport is however only poorly understood. Here, we argue that cosmic-ray nuclear ratios, like the boron-to-carbon ratio and relative abundances of Beryllium isotopes are sensitive to the filling fraction of such low-diffusion zones and hence their measurements can be used to constrain the typical sizes and ages of such regions. We have performed a careful parameter study of a cosmic-ray transport model that allows for different diffusion coefficients $\kappa_{\mathrm{disk}}$ and $\kappa_{\mathrm{halo}}$ in the galactic disk and halo, respectively. Making use of preliminary data from the AMS-02 experiment on the ratio of Beryllium isotopes, we find a $3.5 \sigma$ preference for a suppression of the diffusion coefficient in the disk with a best-fit value of $\kappa_{\mathrm{disk}}/\kappa_{\mathrm{halo}} = 0.20^{+0.10}_{-0.06}$. We forecast that with upcoming data from the HELIX balloon experiment, the significance could increase to $6.8 \sigma$. Adopting a coarse-graining approach, we find that such a strong suppression could be realised if the filling fraction of low-diffusion zones in the disk was $\sim 66 \, \%$. We conclude that the impact of regions of suppressed diffusion might be larger than usually assumed and ought to be taken into account in models of Galactic cosmic ray transport.
H. Jacobs, P. Mertsch and V. Phan
Thu, 18 May 23
64/67
Comments: 15 pages,10 figures, prepared for submission to MNRAS
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