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Observations of the young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 with the fermi large area telescope
(2011)
We present observations of the young supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We clearly detect a source positionally coincident with the SNR. The source is extended with a best-fit extension of 0 degrees.55 +/- 0 degrees.04 matching the size of the non-thermal X-ray and TeV gamma-ray emission from the remnant. The positional coincidence and the matching extended emission allow us to identify the LAT source with SNR RX J1713.7-3946. The spectrum of the source can be described by a very hard power law with a photon index of Gamma = 1.5 +/- 0.1 that coincides in normalization with the steeper H. E. S. S.-detected gamma-ray spectrum at higher energies. The broadband gamma-ray emission is consistent with a leptonic origin as the dominant mechanism for the gamma-ray emission.
Time-dependent escape of cosmic rays from supernova remnants, and their interaction with dense media
(2012)
Context. Supernova remnants (SNRs) are thought to be the main source of Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) up to the "knee" in CR spectrum. During the evolution of a SNR, the bulk of the CRs are confined inside the SNR shell. The highest-energy particles leave the system continuously, while the remaining adiabatically cooled particles are released when the SNR has expanded sufficiently and decelerated so that the magnetic field at the shock is no longer able to confine them. Particles escaping from the parent system may interact with nearby molecular clouds, producing.-rays in the process via pion decay. The soft gamma-ray spectra observed for a number of SNRs interacting with molecular clouds, however, challenge current theories of non-linear particle acceleration that predict harder spectra.
Aims. We study how the spectrum of escaped particles depends on the time-dependent acceleration history in both Type Ia and core-collapse SNRs, as well as on different assumptions about the diffusion coefficient in the vicinity of the SNR.
Methods. We solve the CR transport equation in a test-particle approach combined with numerical simulations of SNR evolution.
Results. We extend our method for calculating the CR acceleration in SNRs to trace the escaped particles in a large volume around SNRs. We calculate the evolution of the spectra of CRs that have escaped from a SNR into a molecular cloud or dense shell for two diffusion models. We find a strong confinement of CRs in a close region around the SNR, and a strong dilution effect for CRs that were able to propagate out as far as a few SNR radii.
We present results of 2D3V particle-in-cell simulations of nonrelativistic plasma collisions with absent or parallel large-scale magnetic field for parameters applicable to the conditions at young supernova remnants. We study the collision of plasma slabs of different density, leading to two different shocks and a contact discontinuity. Electron dynamics play an important role in the development of the system. While nonrelativistic shocks in both unmagnetized and magnetized plasmas can be mediated by Weibel-type instabilities, the efficiency of shock-formation processes is higher when a large-scale magnetic field is present. The electron distributions downstream of the forward and reverse shocks are generally isotropic, whereas that is not always the case for the ions. We do not see any significant evidence of pre-acceleration, neither in the electron population nor in the ion distribution.
We report the discovery of an unidentified, extended source of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission, VER J2019+407, within the radio shell of the supernova remnant SNR G78.2+2.1, using 21.4 hr of data taken by the VERITAS gamma-ray observatory in 2009. These data confirm the preliminary indications of gamma-ray emission previously seen in a two-year (2007-2009) blind survey of the Cygnus region by VERITAS. VER J2019+407, which is detected at a post-trials significance of 7.5 standard deviations in the 2009 data, is localized to the northwestern rim of the remnant in a region of enhanced radio and X-ray emission. It has an intrinsic extent of 0 degrees.23 +/- 0 degrees.03(stat-0 degrees.02sys)(+0 degrees.04) and its spectrum is well-characterized by a differential power law (dN/dE = N-0 x (E/TeV)-Gamma) with a photon index of Gamma = 2.37 +/- 0.14(stat) +/- 0.20(sys) and a flux normalization of N-0 = 1.5 +/- 0.2(stat) +/- 0.4(sys) x 10(-12) photon TeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1). This yields an integral flux of 5.2 +/- 0.8(stat) +/- 1.4(sys) x 10(-12) photon cm(-2) s(-1) above 320 GeV, corresponding to 3.7% of the Crab Nebula flux. We consider the relationship of the TeV gamma-ray emission with the GeV gamma-ray emission seen from SNR G78.2+2.1 as well as that seen from a nearby cocoon of freshly accelerated cosmic rays. Multiple scenarios are considered as possible origins for the TeV gamma-ray emission, including hadronic particle acceleration at the SNR shock.
We report on deep observations of the extended TeV gamma-ray source MGRO J1908+06 made with the VERITAS very high energy gamma-ray observatory. Previously, the TeV emission has been attributed to the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) of the Fermi-LAT pulsar PSR J1907+0602. We detect MGRO J1908+06 at a significance level of 14 standard deviations (14 sigma) and measure a photon index of 2.20 +/- 0.10(stat) +/- 0.20(sys). The TeV emission is extended, covering the region near PSR J1907+0602 and also extending toward SNR G40.5-0.5. When fitted with a two-dimensional Gaussian, the intrinsic extension has a standard deviation of sigma(src) = 0 degrees.44 +/- 0 degrees.02. In contrast to other TeV PWNe of similar age in which the TeV spectrum softens with distance from the pulsar, the TeV spectrum measured near the pulsar location is consistent with that measured at a position near the rim of G40.5-0.5, 0 degrees.33 away.
Context. RX J1713.7-3946 is the brightest shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) of the TeV gamma-ray sky. Earlier Fermi-LAT results on low energy gamma-ray emission suggested that, despite large uncertainties in the background determination, the spectrum is inconsistent with a hadronic origin.
Aims. We update the GeV-band spectra using improved estimates for the diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission and more than double the volume of data. We further investigate the viability of hadronic emission models for RX J1713.7-3946.
Methods. We produced a high-resolution map of the diffuse Galactic gamma-ray background corrected for the HI self-absorption and used it in the analysis of more than five years worth of Fermi-LAT data. We used hydrodynamic scaling relations and a kinetic transport equation to calculate the acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays in SNR. We then determined spectra of hadronic gamma-ray emission from RX J1713.7-3946, separately for the SNR interior and the cosmic-ray precursor region of the forward shock, and computed flux variations that would allow us to test the model with observations.
Results. We find that RX J1713.7-3946 is now detected by Fermi-LAT with very high statistical significance, and the source morphology is best described by that seen in the TeV band. The measured spectrum of RX J1713.7-3946 is hard with index gamma = 1.53 +/- 0.07, and the integral flux above 500 MeV is F = (5 : 5 +/- 1 : 1) x 10(-9) photons cm(-2) s(-1). We demonstrate that scenarios based on hadronic emission from the cosmic-ray precursor region are acceptable for RX J1713.7-3946, and we predict a secular flux increase at a few hundred GeV at the level of around 15% over ten years, which may be detectable with the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory.
Context. Supernova remnants are known as sources of Galactic cosmic rays for their nonthermal emission of radio waves, X-rays, and gamma rays. However, the observed soft broken power-law spectra are hard to reproduce within standard acceleration theory based on the assumption of Bohm diffusion and steady-state calculations. Aims. We point out that a time-dependent treatment of the acceleration process together with a self-consistent treatment of the scattering turbulence amplification is necessary. Methods. We numerically solve the coupled system of transport equations for cosmic rays and isotropic Alfvenic turbulence. The equations are coupled through the growth rate of turbulence determined by the cosmic-ray gradient and the spatial diffusion coefficient of cosmic rays determined by the energy density of the turbulence. The system is solved on a comoving expanding grid extending upstream for dozens of shock radii, allowing for the self-consistent study of cosmic-ray diffusion in the vicinity of their acceleration site. The transport equation for cosmic rays is solved in a test-particle approach. Results. We demonstrate that the system is typically not in a steady state. In fact, even after several thousand years of evolution, no equilibrium situation is reached. The resulting time-dependent particle spectra strongly differ from those derived assuming a steady state and Bohm diffusion. Our results indicate that proper accounting for the evolution of the scattering turbulence and hence the particle diffusion coefficient is crucial for the formation of the observed soft spectra. In any case, the need to continuously develop magnetic turbulence upstream of the shock introduces nonlinearity in addition to that imposed by cosmic-ray feedback.
We develop a simple one-zone model of the steady-state Crab nebula spectrum encompassing both the radio/soft X-ray and the GeV/multi-TeV observations. By solving the transport equation for GeV-TeV electrons injected at the wind termination shock as a log-parabola momentum distribution and evolved via energy losses, we determine analytically the resulting differential energy spectrum of photons. We find an impressive agreement with the observed spectrum of synchrotron emission, and the synchrotron self-Compton component reproduces the previously unexplained broad 200-GeV peak that matches the Fermi/Large Area Telescope (LAT) data beyond 1 GeV with the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) data. We determine the parameters of the single log-parabola electron injection distribution, in contrast with multiple broken power-law electron spectra proposed in the literature. The resulting photon differential spectrum provides a natural interpretation of the deviation from power law customarily fitted with empirical multiple broken power laws. Our model can be applied to the radio-to-multi-TeV spectrum of a variety of astrophysical outflows, including pulsar wind nebulae and supernova remnants, as well as to interplanetary shocks.
A non-resonant cosmic ray (CR) current-driven instability may operate in the shock precursors of young supernova remnants and be responsible for magnetic-field amplification, plasma heating and turbulence. Earlier simulations demonstrated magnetic-field amplification, and in kinetic studies a reduction of the relative drift between CRs and thermal plasma was observed as backreaction. However, all published simulations used periodic boundary conditions, which do not account for mass conservation in decelerating flows and only allow the temporal development to be studied. Here we report results of fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations with open boundaries that permit inflow of plasma on one side of the simulation box and outflow at the other end, hence allowing an investigation of both the temporal and the spatial development of the instability. Magnetic-field amplification proceeds as in studies with periodic boundaries and, observed here for the first time, the reduction of relative drifts causes the formation of a shock-like compression structure at which a fraction of the plasma ions are reflected. Turbulent electric field generated by the non-resonant instability inelastically scatters CRs, modifying and anisotropizing their energy distribution. Spatial CR scattering is compatible with Bohm diffusion. Electromagnetic turbulence leads to significant non-adiabatic heating of the background plasma maintaining bulk equipartition between ions and electrons. The highest temperatures are reached at sites of large-amplitude electrostatic fields. Ion spectra show supra-thermal tails resulting from stochastic scattering in the turbulent electric field. Together, these modifications in the plasma flow will affect the properties of the shock and particle acceleration there.
We perform particle-in-cell simulations of perpendicular nonrelativistic collisionless shocks to study electron heating and pre-acceleration for parameters that permit the extrapolation to the conditions at young supernova remnants. Our high-resolution large-scale numerical experiments sample a representative portion of the shock surface and demonstrate that the efficiency of electron injection is strongly modulated with the phase of the shock reformation. For plasmas with low and moderate temperature (plasma beta beta p =5.10(-4) and 0.5 beta p =), we explore the nonlinear shock structure and electron pre-acceleration for various orientations of the large-scale magnetic field with respect to the simulation plane, while keeping it at 90 degrees to the shock normal. Ion reflection off of the shock leads to the formation of magnetic filaments in the shock ramp, resulting from Weibel-type instabilities, and electrostatic Buneman modes in the shock foot. In all of the cases under study, the latter provides first-stage electron energization through the shock-surfing acceleration mechanism. The subsequent energization strongly depends on the field orientation and proceeds through adiabatic or second-order Fermi acceleration processes for configurations with the out-of-plane and in-plane field components, respectively. For strictly out-of-plane field, the fraction of suprathermal electrons is much higher than for other configurations, because only in this case are the Buneman modes fully captured by the 2D simulation grid. Shocks in plasma with moderate bp provide more efficient pre-acceleration. The relevance of our results to the physics of fully 3D systems is discussed.