1995A&A...294L..41A

The sharp increase of the positron content in the cosmic ray electron flux at E>10GeV is regarded as an enigma (Mueller & Tang 1990, Proc. 21st ICRC (Adelaide) 3, 249). Here we show that ino fact the "enigma" disappears if the propagation of the cosmic ray electrons is treated correctly. The proper treatment of cosmic ray, namely, separation of the contribution of one (or few) nearby (r∼100pc) and relatively young (t∼10⁵yr) source(s) from the contribution from distant (r≥1kpc) sources explains the features of both energy spectrum and charge composition of electrons observed between ∼100MeV and 2TeV. We argue that the nearby γ-ray pulsar Geminga is probable source responsible for the observed very high energy electrons.