The expected very-high-energy flux from a population of globular clusters

Abstract

Given their old ages, globular clusters are expected to harbour many evolved stellar objects. Their high core densities enhance stellar encounter rates, also facilitating the formation of stellar end products. In particular, many millisecond pulsars are found in these clusters. Such a population of millisecond pulsars is expected to radiate several spectral components in the radio through γ-ray waveband. We present ongoing work involving a refined spectral model that assumes millisecond pulsars as sources of relativistic particles to model the multi-wavelength emission properties of globular clusters. We apply the model to a population of globular clusters that have been observed by H.E.S.S. and use upper limits derived from stacking analyses to test the viability of this “millisecond pulsar scenario”. We derive general expressions for the ensemble-averaged flux and its error stemming from the uncertainty in free model parameters. The errors exceed this calculated average flux value so that there are regions in parameter space for which the model predictions satisfy the H.E.S.S. upper limits. Improved constraints on single-cluster parameters are therefore needed to aid in discriminating between competing spectral models