Cosmic rays and neutrinos from supernova remnants: (or: the time when H.E.S.S. met Ginzburg and Syrovatskii)

Abstract

Supernova remnants are likely to be the accelerators of galactic cosmic rays (CRs). Assuming the correctness of this hypothesis, due to Ginzburg and Syrovatskii, we analyze the quantitative connection between the observed very high energy (VHE) gamma radiation and the potentially observable VHE muon–neutrino flux. We compare different approaches to calculate the νμ flux, present a simplified method of calculation and obtain numerical results. We also discuss how to extract information on the primary CR spectrum in supernova remnants from the VHE γ-ray spectra observed by H.E.S.S. Array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes.