Abstract:

There is mounting evidence that the cosmic ray electron spectrum is revealing evidence for local sources. This evidence appears both as an excess flux in the 300-800 GeV energy range and as excess positron flux above 10 GeV. These measurements will be discussed and the experiments that made them will be described. Attempts to interpret these results has lead to investigations of possible nearby sources including supernovae and pulsars as well as speculation that dark matter annihilation may be the source of the electron excess. The attempts to explain the experimental results will be reviewed and discussed. Finally, plans for further experimental investigations will be described.