Hadronic versus leptonic origin of the gamma-ray emission from supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946

Aims. We investigate the nature of the accelerated particles responsible for the production of the gamma-ray emission observed from the middle-aged supernova remnant (SNR) HB 21. Methods. We present the analysis of more than nine years of Fermi LAT data from the SNR HB 21. We performed morphological and spectral analysis of the SNR by means of a three-dimensional binned likelihood analysis. To assess the intrinsic properties of the parent particle models, we fit the obtained gamma-ray spectral energy distribution of the SNR by both hadronic- and leptonic-induced gamma-ray spectrum. Results. We observe an extended emission positionally in agreement with the SNR HB 21. The bulk of this gamma-ray emission is detected from the remnant; photons up to ~10 GeV show clear evidence of curvature at the lower energies. The remnant is characterized by an extension of 0°.83, that is, 30% smaller than claimed in previous studies. The increased statistics allowed us also to resolve a point-like source at the edge of the remnant, in proximity to a molecular cloud of the Cyg OB7 complex. In the southern part of the remnant, a hint of an additional gamma-ray excess in correspondence to shocked molecular clouds is observed. Conclusions. The spectral energy distribution of the SNR shows evidence of a break around 400 MeV, which can be properly fitted within both the hadronic and leptonic scenario. The pion-decay mechanism reproduces well the gamma rays, postulating a proton spectrum with a slope ~2.5 and with a steepening around tens of GeV, which could be explained by the energy-dependent escape of particles from the remnant. In the leptonic scenario the electron spectrum within the SNR matches closely the locally measured spectrum. This remarkable and novel result shows that SNR HB 21 could be a direct contributor to the population of Galactic electrons. In the leptonic scenario, we find that the local electron spectrum with a break around 2 GeV, closely evokes the best-fitting parental spectrum within this SNR. If such a scenario is confirmed, this would indicate that the SNR might be a source of Galactic background electrons.

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Supernova remnants and the origin of cosmic rays

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921313009630 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (S296) ◽

pp. 305-314

Author(s):

Jacco Vink

Keyword(s):

Synchrotron Radiation ◽

Cosmic Rays ◽

Magnetic Fields ◽

Supernova Remnants ◽

Supernova Remnant ◽

Gamma Ray ◽

Cosmic Ray ◽

Galactic Cosmic Rays ◽

Long Time ◽

Gamma Ray Emission

AbstractSupernova remnants have long been considered to be the dominant sources of Galactic cosmic rays. For a long time the prime evidence consisted of radio synchrotron radiation from supernova remnants, indicating the presence of electrons with energies of several GeV. However, in order to explain the cosmic ray energy density and spectrum in the Galaxy supernova remnant should use 10% of the explosion energy to accelerate particles, and about 99% of the accelerated particles should be protons and other atomic nuclei.Over the last decade a lot of progress has been made in providing evidence that supernova remnant can accelerate protons to very high energies. The evidence consists of, among others, X-ray synchrotron radiation from narrow regions close to supernova remnant shock fronts, indicating the presence of 10-100 TeV electrons, and providing evidence for amplified magnetic fields, gamma-ray emission from both young and mature supernova remnants. The high magnetic fields indicate that the condition for accelerating protons to >1015 eV are there, whereas the gamma-ray emission from some mature remnants indicate that protons have been accelerated.

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