THE GIGAELECTRONVOLT COUNTERPART OF VER J2019+407 IN THE NORTHERN SHELL OF THE SUPERNOVA REMNANT G78.2+2.1 (γ Cygni)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Analysis of gamma-ray emission from the supernova remnant G78.2+2.1 (γ Cygni) with 7.2 years of cumulative data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope shows a distinct hard, bright, and extended component to the north of the shell coincident with the known teraelectronvolt source VER J2019+407. In the gigaelectronvolt to teraelectronvolt (GeV–TeV) energy range, its spectrum is best described by a broken power law with indices 1.8 below a break energy of 71 GeV and 2.5 above the break. A broadband spectral energy distribution is assembled, and different scenarios for the origin of the gamma rays are explored. Both hadronic and leptonic mechanisms are able to account for the GeV–TeV observations. In the leptonic framework, a superposition of inverse Compton and nonthermal bremsstrahlung emissions is needed, whereas the hadronic scenario requires a cosmic-ray population described by a broken power-law distribution with a relatively hard spectral index of ∼1.8 below a break particle energy of 0.45 TeV. In addition, the neutrino flux expected from cosmic-ray interactions is calculated.