The diffusion coefficient in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Abstract
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the largest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and provides a unique laboratory for high-energy astrophysics and dark matter studies. In this work, we develop an end-to-end numerical description of cosmic-ray transport and the associated non-thermal emission in the LMC, extending the public DRAGON and HERMES codes. Within this framework, we compute the diffuse synchrotron radiation produced by cosmic-ray electrons in the LMC and compare our predictions with observed low-frequency radio maps. Because electron diffusion imprints a characteristic morphology on the radio emission, this comparison allows us to infer the effective average diffusion coefficient in the LMC. We find a diffusion coefficient D0 = (3-6) × 1028 \; cm2 \; s-1 at 1 GeV, comparable to but slightly larger than values typically inferred for the Milky Way. More generally, this work provides a scalable tool for interpreting non-thermal signals in nearby galaxies and constraining their cosmic-ray transport properties.
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