Paper detail

Diffusion of cosmic-rays and the Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope: Phenomenology at the 1-100 GeV regime

This paper analyzes astrophysical scenarios that may be detected at the upper end of the energy range of the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), as a result of cosmic-ray (CR) diffusion in the interstellar medium (ISM). Hadronic processes are considered as the source of $γ$-ray photons from localized molecular enhancements nearby accelerators. Two particular cases are presented: a) the possibility of detecting spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with maxima above 1 GeV, which may be constrained by detection or non-detection at very-high energies (VHE) with observations by ground-based Cerenkov telescopes, and b) the possibility of detecting V-shaped, inverted spectra, due to confusion of a nearby (to the line of sight) arrangement of accelerator/target scenarios with different characteristic properties. We show that the finding of these signatures (in particular, a peak at the 1--100 GeV energy region) is indicative for an identification of the underlying mechanism producing the $γ$-rays that is realized by nature: which accelerator (age and relative position to the target cloud) and under which diffusion properties CR propagate.