TeV gamma rays from supernova remnants

Abstract

Supernova remnants are believed to be the sources of galactic cosmic rays. As expected in this scenario, several of them have been indeed detected in TeV gamma rays. Such gamma rays can be produced either by proton-proton interactions of hadronic cosmic rays in the ambient gas, or by inverse Compton scattering of electrons on soft photons. By means of a Monte Carlo we simulated the location and time of supernova explosions in the Galaxy. We computed the expected gamma–ray emission from each supernova remnant under the hypothesis that these objects are the sources of cosmic rays. We then estimated the number of remnants that one is expected to detect in the HESS survey of the galactic plane. A substantial agreement is found with data. This provides a consistency check for the supernova remnant paradigm for the origin of galactic cosmic rays.