Deep observations of Kepler's SNR with H.E.S.S.

Dmitry Prokhorov ,Atreyee Sinha,Faical Ait-Benkhali,Kirsty Feijen,Tom Armstrong,Oguzhan Anguener,Hugh Spackman,Hannah Dalgleish,Pauline Chambery,Dmitry Malyshev,Marion Spir-Jacob,Patrick Reichherzer,Edna Ruiz Velasco,Arnaud Mares,Johann Van Der Walt,Jim Hinton,Thomas Bylund,Hannes Thiersen,Johannes Schaefer,Sumari Hattingh,Pieter Meintjes,Louis Du Plessis,Hector Rueda Ricarte,Lott Frans,Vardan Baghmanyan,Sebastian Panny,Jhilik Majumdar,Jacco Vink,Jonathan Mackey,Laura Olivera-Nieto,Robert Brose,Takaaki Tanaka,Lei Sun,Halim Ashkar,Stefan Funk,Alison Mitchell,Laenita Lorraine Oberholzer,Anna Luashvili,Heiko Salzmann,Tadayuki Takahashi,Garret Cotter,Brian Reville,Andreas Zmija,Davit Zargaryan,Emmanuel Moulin,Malgorzata Curlo,Charles Thorpe-Morgan,Jaqueline Catalano,Axel Donath,Paul Morris,Fabian Leuschner,Michael Backes,T Löhse ,A Djannati-Ataı̈ ,K Bernloehr ,M Kreter ,C Van Rensburg ,A Barnacka ,Ruslan Konno,S Casanova ,Vikas Joshi,D Malyshev ,M Tluczykont ,M Jamrozy ,A Fiaßon ,R Tuffs ,Zhiqiu Huang ,A Quirrenbach ,U Schwanke ,D Berge ,M De Naurois ,M Holler ,A Specovius ,C Duffy ,M Panter ,J Niemiec ,Ł Stawarz ,S Le Stum ,S Gabici ,G Fontaine ,C Steppa ,Markus Boettcher ,Sylvia Zhu,T Tavernier ,A Yusafzai ,A Wierzcholska ,Yu Wun Wong,F Cangemi ,J Bolmont ,F Brun ,K Kosack ,R Marx ,M.-H Grondin ,G Puehlhofer ,C Hoischen ,G Maurin ,A M Taylor ,I Jung ,D Khangulyan ,F Schüßler ,J Davies ,C Romoli ,G Rowell ,P T O’brien ,I D Davids ,K Egberts ,K Katarzyński ,S J Wagner ,A Reimer ,V Sahakian ,S Klepser ,I Lypova ,Lenté Dreyer ,Y Uchiyama ,H J Völk ,R Steenkamp ,F Jankowsky ,P Vincent ,W Hofmann ,H Sol ,J Veh ,T Chand ,G Giavitto ,G Lamanna ,G Kukec Mezek ,A Dmytriiev ,A Kundu ,W Kluźniak ,H Abdalla ,M Hörbe ,H Ndiyavala ,Simon Steinmassl,Y Becherini ,S Pita ,L Mohrmann ,V Marandon ,Y A Gallant ,A Marcowith ,Céline Armand ,H Prokoph ,M Lemoine‐Goumard ,M Senniappan ,Hend Mahmoud Yassin,A Priyana Noel ,Guillem Marti'i-Devesa ,V Poireau ,David Miles Huber ,A Santangelo ,Nu Komin ,Mathieu Bony ,F Rieger ,L Tomankova ,C Levy ,F Werner ,C Stegmann ,J F Glicenstein ,C Van Eldik ,G Fichet De Clairfontaine ,Matthias Fuessling,G Vasileiadis ,F Aharonian ,R Moderski ,C Venter ,E Oña-Wilhelmi ,E Kasai ,Baiyang Bi,B Van Soelen ,Andrzej Zdziarski,Luca Giunti,C Boisson ,S Ohm ,Jean-Pierre Ernenwein,K Shiningayamwe ,S Einecke ,A Zech ,S Spencer ,S Caroff ,Andrew Chen,C Arcaro ,Giada Peron,G Hermann ,Kaori Nakashima,J Damascene Mbarubucyeye ,D Glawion ,M Barnard ,H M Schutte ,¶ Marchegiani ,M Renaud ,M Ostrowski ,D Horns ,D R Parsons ,M Zacharias ,M Breuhaus ,Richard White,U Katz ,A Nayerhoda ,M Tsirou ,B Khélifi ,T L Holch ,Simon Sailer,C J Moore ,R Terrier ,S Zouari ,M Punch ,J N S Shapopi ,M Haupt ,D Kostunin ,Victor Doroshenko ,Quentin Remy,N Tsuji ,T Murach ,T Bulik ,S J Fegan ,David Sánchez ,Rowan Batzofin ,Victor Barbosa Martins,A Lemière ,B Rudak ,R Zanin ,J Devin ,J Müller ,A Montanari ,M Sasaki ,A S Seyffert ,Jason Watson ,R Simoni ,M Meyer ,Jean-Philippe Lenain,N Żywucka

doi:10.22323/1.395.0805

Abstract

Kepler’s supernova remnant (SNR) which is produced by the most recent naked-eye supernova in our Galaxy is one of the best studied SNRs, but its gamma-ray detection has eluded us so far. Observations with modern imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACT) have enlarged the knowledge about nearby SNRs with ages younger than 500 years by establishing Cassiopeia A and Tycho’s SNRs as very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray sources and setting a lower limit on the distance to Kepler’s SNR. This SNR is significantly more distant than the other two and expected to be one of the faintest gamma-ray sources within reach of the IACT arrays of this generation. We report strong evidence for a VHE signal from Kepler’s SNR based on deep observations of the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) with an exposure of 152 hours, including 122 hours accumulated in 2017-2020. We further discuss implications of this result for cosmic-ray acceleration in young SNRs.

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