Possible interpretations of the high energy cosmic ray electron spectrum measured with the Fermi space telescope

Abstract: The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) recently measured the cosmic ray electrons-plus-positrons (CRE) spectrum between 20GeV and 1TeV. In this contribution we discuss several interpretations of those measurements in combination with other experimental data. We show that, as far as concerns the reported Fermi-LAT data alone, a simple interpretation invoking a single class of astrophysical electron sources is possible. If, however, also the CRE spectrum measured by H.E.S.S. and especially the positron fraction reported by PAMELA are accounted, that scenario fails to provide a combined description of those results. Rather, we show that several combinations of parameters, involving pair emission by pulsars or dark matter annihilation, allow a consistent interpretation of all data sets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]