Supernova Remnant Shocks Research Articles

Revealing a new region of gamma-ray emission in the vicinity of HESS J1825–137

HESS J1825-137 is a bright very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray source that has been firmly established as a pulsar wind nebula (PWN), and one of the most extended gamma-ray objects within this category. The progenitor supernova remnant (SNR) for this PWN has not been firmly established. We carried out an analysis of gamma-ray observations in the region of HESS J1825-137 with the Fermi-LAT which reveal emission in the direction away from the Galactic plane. The region lies beyond the PWN and reaches a distance from the pulsar compatible with the supposed location of the SNR shock front. The spectrum of the gamma-rays is hard with a photon index of $\sim 1.9$ in the 10-250 GeV range. Several scenarios for the origin of the emission are discussed, including the SNR as a source of high-energy particles and the "leakage"' of leptons from the PWN.

Acceleration of Cosmic Rays in Supernova Shocks: Elemental Selectivity of the Injection Mechanism

Abstract Precise measurements of galactic cosmic rays revealed a significant difference between the rigidity spectral indices of protons and helium ions. This finding is a notable contrast to the commonly accepted theoretical prediction that supernova remnant (SNR) shocks accelerate protons and helium ions with the same rigidity alike. Most of the earlier explanations for the “paradox” appealed to SNR environmental factors, such as inhomogeneous p/He mixes in the shock upstream medium, variable ionization states of He, or a multi-SNR origin of the observed spectra. The newest observations, however, are in tension with most past models. In this paper, we show by self-consistent hybrid simulations that such special conditions are not vital for explaining the cosmic-ray rigidity spectra. In particular, our simulations prove that an SNR shock can modify the chemical composition of accelerated cosmic rays by preferentially extracting them from a homogeneous background plasma without additional, largely untestable assumptions. Our results confirm the earlier theoretical predictions of how the efficiency of injection depends on the shock Mach number M. Its increase with the charge-to-mass ratio saturates at a level that grows with M. We have convolved the time-dependent injection rates of protons and helium ions, obtained from the simulations, with a decreasing shock strength over the active lives of SNRs. The integrated SNR rigidity spectrum for p/He ratio compares well with the AMS-02 and PAMELA data.

Collisionless shock heating of heavy ions in SN 1987A

Astrophysical shocks at all scales, from those in the heliosphere up to the cosmological shock waves, are typically "collisionless", because the thickness of their jump region is much shorter than the collisional mean free path. Across these jumps, electrons, protons, and ions are expected to be heated at different temperatures. Supernova remnants (SNRs) are ideal targets to study collisionless processes because of their bright post-shock emission and fast shocks. Although optical observations of Balmer-dominated shocks in young SNRs showed that the post-shock proton temperature is higher than the electron temperature, the actual dependence of the post-shock temperature on the particle mass is still widely debated. We tackle this longstanding issue through the analysis of deep multi-epoch and high-resolution observations of the youngest nearby supernova remnant, SN 1987A, made with the Chandra X-ray telescope. We introduce a novel data analysis method by studying the observed spectra in close comparison with a dedicated full 3-D hydrodynamic simulation. The simulation is able to reproduce self-consistently the whole broadening of the spectral lines of many ions altogether. We can therefore measure the post shock temperature of protons and selected ions through comparison of the model with observations. We have obtained information about the heating processes in collisional shocks by finding that the ion to proton temperature ratio is always significantly higher than one and increases linearly with the ion mass for a wide range of masses and shock parameters.

Particle propagation in clumpy supernova remnants

The presence of dense clumps in the environment where a supernova remnant expands might have a strong impact in shaping the observed hadronic gamma-ray spectrum. A detailed numerical study about the penetration of relativistic protons into clumps which are engulfed by a supernova remnant shock is here presented, taking into account the magneto-hydrodynamical properties of the background plasma. This has strong implications for the formation of the spectrum of hadronic gamma rays, which does not reflect anymore the acceleration spectrum of protons, resulting substantially modified by propagation effects. A hadronic scenario including dense clumps inside the remnant shell is shown to adequately reproduce the broadband gamma-ray spectrum of the Galactic supernova remnant RX J1713-3946.7 from GeV to TeV energies.

2FHL J0826.1–4500: Discovery of a Possible Shock–Cloud Interaction on the Western Edge of the Vela Supernova Remnant

Abstract We report on the investigation of a very high-energy, Galactic γ-ray source recently discovered at >50 GeV using the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi. This object, 2FHL J0826.1−4500, displays one of the hardest >50 GeV spectra (photon index Γ γ ∼ 1.6) in the 2FHL catalog, and a follow-up observation with XMM-Newton has uncovered diffuse, soft thermal emission at the position of the γ-ray source. A detailed analysis of the available multi-wavelength data shows that this source is located on the western edge of the Vela supernova remnant (SNR): the observations and the modeling of the spectral energy distribution support a scenario where this γ-ray source is the byproduct of the interaction between the SNR shock and a neutral hydrogen cloud. If confirmed, this shock–cloud interaction would make 2FHL J0826.1−4500 a promising candidate for efficient particle acceleration.

Cosmic ray driven instabilities in a plasma flow upstream of a supernova shock

Forward shocks in supernova remnants are known as efficient cosmic ray (CR) accelerators. They may convert a sizeable fraction of the shock ram pressure into relativistic particles with highly non-equilibrium distribution functions. We discuss here a specific unstable mode driven by the CR-current and CR-pressure gradients which is producing the magnetic fluctuations in a cold plasma of the shock upstream. The growth rates of the new CR-driven mode propagating obliquely to the mean magnetic field are presented in the short-wavelength limit and compared to the known Bell’s CR-current and Drury-Dorfi-Falle acoustic instabilities.

ALMA Observations of Supernova Remnant N49 in the LMC. I. Discovery of CO Clumps Associated with X-Ray and Radio Continuum Shells

Abstract N49 (LHA 120-N49) is a bright X-ray supernova remnant (SNR) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We present new 12CO (J = 1–0, 3–2), H i, and 1.4 GHz radio continuum observations of the SNR N49 using Mopra, ASTE, ALMA, and ATCA. We have newly identified three H i clouds using ATCA with an angular resolution of ∼20″: one associated with the SNR and the others located in front of the SNR. Both the CO and H i clouds in the velocity range from 281 to 291 km s−1 are spatially correlated with both the soft X-rays (0.2–1.2 keV) and the hard X-rays (2.0–7.0 keV) of N49 on a ∼10 pc scale. CO 3–2/1–0 intensity ratios indicate higher values of the CO cloud toward the SNR shell with an angular resolution of ∼45″, and thus a strong interaction was suggested. Using the ALMA, we have spatially resolved CO clumps embedded within or along the southeastern rim of N49 with an angular resolution of ∼3″. Three of the CO clumps are rim brightened on a 0.7–2 pc scale in both hard X-rays and the radio continuum: this provides further evidence for dynamical interactions between the CO clumps and the SNR shock wave. The enhancement of the radio synchrotron radiation can be understood in terms of magnetic field amplification around the CO clumps via a shock–cloud interaction. We also present a possible scenario in which the recombining plasma that dominates the hard X-rays from N49 was formed via thermal conduction between the SNR shock waves and the cold/dense molecular clumps.

Particle acceleration at forward and reverse shocks in SNRs

Cosmic ray acceleration by astrophysical shocks in supernova remnants is briefly reviewed. Results of numerical modeling taking into account the magnetic field amplification by streaming instability and the shock modification are presented. Nonthermal emission produced by accelerated particles in old supernova remnants is compared with available data of modern radio, X-ray and gamma-ray astronomies. It is also shown that high-energy neutrinos produced in young supernova remnants of Type IIn extragalactic supernova can explain the recent IceCube detection of astrophysical neutrinos.

Where do the ultra-high energy cosmic rays come from?

Cosmic rays are the only sample of matter coming from outer space. They carry rich information about particle physics, high-energy astrophysics, composition and evolution of the Universe. The highest energy of cosmic rays detected so far is about 3×10 20 eV. How are the cosmic rays accelerated?What kind of astronomic sources do the cosmic rays originate from?Are the fundamental physics laws still valid in such high-energy scales? are all important scientific problems waiting to be addressed. To answer these questions, various space and ground experiments have been carried out to explore the nature of cosmic rays in a multi-messenger approach. The past few decades have witnessed great achievements in high-energy cosmic ray, gamma ray, neutrino observations, and detection of gravitational wave. (1) The cosmic ray spectra, composition, and anisotropy have been measured with unprecedented precision leading to better understanding of cosmic ray acceleration and transport and stricter constraints on properties of potential candidates of dark matter particles, and the dipole anisotropy of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays indicates that they have an extragalactic origin. (2) Space borne experiments have discovered more than 3000 sources in the GeV range, and the ground based experiments have uncovered more than 200 sources at TeV energies. Most of these sources are high-energy electron accelerators, and a few of them are identified as the accelerators of cosmic ray nuclei. Diffuse gamma-ray emission associated with galactic disks and jets and/or outbursts of Active Galactic Nuclei is also measured with better spatial and energy resolutions, which can be used to study cosmic ray transport in the interstellar/galactic/cluster medium. (3) With the IceCube experiment, about 100 high-energy neutrino events have been recorded and their isotropic distribution suggests an extragalactic origin. (4) The first gravitational wave event with simultaneous multi-wavelength observations has been detected opening the epoch of gravitational wave astronomy. Strong gravitational wave events represent the most catastrophic energy release in the Universe and can be important cosmic ray sources. These new results established the foundation to address the origin of cosmic rays and to develop theories of particle acceleration and transport. The study of cosmic ray transport has gone beyond the diffusion approximation to study the effect of magnetic field fluctuations on small scale anisotropy of cosmic rays and comprehensive numerical modelings of cosmic ray transport in the Galaxy are advanced with multi-wavelength observations. Diffusive particle acceleration by strong shocks of supernova remnants (SNRs) is also advanced based on multi-wavelength observations and cosmic ray measurements. The scenario of SNR origin of Galactic cosmic rays is being quantified with testable predictions. Although there are still uncertainties in amplification of magnetic field by cosmic rays and cosmic ray scattering by turbulent plasmas, sophisticated numerical codes are being developed to address these issues. Successful construction and operation of new generation cosmic ray and gamma-ray experiments will open a new chapter of the astro-particle physics study.

Discovery of recombining plasma from the faintest GeV supernova remnant HB 21 and a possible scenario for cosmic rays escaping from supernova remnant shocks

Abstract We present an X-ray study of the GeV gamma-ray supernova remnant (SNR) HB 21 with Suzaku. HB 21 is interacting with molecular clouds, and is the faintest in the GeV band among known GeV SNRs. We discovered strong radiative recombination continua of Si and S from the center of the remnant, which provide direct evidence of a recombining plasma (RP). The total emission can be explained with the RP and ionizing plasma components. The electron temperature and recombination timescale of the RP component were estimated as 0.17 (0.15–0.18) keV and 3.2 (2.0–4.8) × 1011 s cm−3, respectively. The estimated age of the RP (∼170 kyr) is the longest among known recombining GeV SNRs, because of a very low density of electrons (∼0.05 cm−3). We have examined the dependencies of GeV spectral indices on each of RP ages and SNR diameters for nine recombining GeV SNRs. Both showed possible positive correlations, indicating that both the parameters can be good indicators of properties of accelerated protons, for instance the degree of escape from SNR shocks. A possible scenario for a process of proton escape is introduced: interaction with molecular clouds makes weaker magnetic turbulence and cosmic-ray protons escape, simultaneously cooling down the thermal electrons and generating an RP.

Diffusive shock re-acceleration

We have performed two-dimensional hybrid simulations of non-relativistic collisionless shocks in the presence of pre-existing energetic particles (‘seeds’); such a study applies, for instance, to the re-acceleration of galactic cosmic rays (CRs) in supernova remnant (SNR) shocks and solar wind energetic particles in heliospheric shocks. Energetic particles can be effectively reflected and accelerated regardless of shock inclination via a process that we call diffusive shock re-acceleration. We find that re-accelerated seeds can drive the streaming instability in the shock upstream and produce effective magnetic field amplification. This can eventually trigger the injection of thermal protons even at oblique shocks that ordinarily cannot inject thermal particles. We characterize the current in reflected seeds, finding that it tends to a universal value $J\simeq en_{\text{CR}}v_{\text{sh}}$, where $en_{\text{CR}}$ is the seed charge density and $v_{\text{sh}}$ is the shock velocity. When applying our results to SNRs, we find that the re-acceleration of galactic CRs can excite the Bell instability to nonlinear levels in less than ${\sim}10~\text{yr}$, thereby providing a minimum level of magnetic field amplification for any SNR shock. Finally, we discuss the relevance of diffusive shock re-acceleration also for other environments, such as heliospheric shocks, galactic superbubbles and clusters of galaxies.

X-ray Observations of Supernova Remnants – environment study of acceleration sites

X-ray observations are one of the strong tools to study acceleration sites of cosmic rays, not only with synchrotron emission but also with thermal emission from heated plasma. Thermal X-rays with emission lines give us plenty of information on temperature, density, plasma time scale and so on, for heated interstellar medium and ejecta of progenitors, which are critical to understand the background plasma of the acceleration sites. It is debated for long time about which environment strongly accelerate particles, thin environment with faster shocks or thick environment with amplified magnetic field. It is also important tp known in which environment and when accelerated particles can escape to be cosmic rays, which is totally open issue to be solved. Observations of low energy cosmic rays in the MeV range is also crucial to understand the injection of accelerated particles. In this paper, we will show recent results with X-ray observations, as hints of environments of acceleration and escape sites on shocks of supernova remnants.

Particle Acceleration at Structure Formation Shocks

Cosmological hydrodynamic simulations have demonstrated that shock waves could be produced in the intergalactic medium by supersonic flow motions during the course of hierarchical clustering of the large-scale-structure in the Universe. Similar to interplanetary shocks and supernova remnants (SNRs), these structure formation shocks can accelerate cosmic ray (CR) protons and electrons via diffusive shock acceleration. External accretion shocks, which form in the outermost surfaces of nonlinear structures, are as strong as SNR shocks and could be potential accelerations sites for high energy CR protons up to 1018 eV. But it could be difficult to detect their signatures due to extremely low kinetic energy flux associated with those accretion shocks. On the other hand, radiative features of internal shocks in the hot intracluster medium have been identified as temperature and density discontinuities in X-ray observations and diffuse radio emission from accelerated CR electrons. However, the non-detection of gamma-ray emission from galaxy clusters due to π0 decay still remains to be an outstanding problem.

Contribution of Supernova Remnants to CRs Secondary to Primary ratios

We study production of secondary cosmic rays (CR) in supernova remnants (SNR). The model includes reacceleration of already existing in interstellar medium secondary CR particles as well as creation of secondary CRs in nuclear collisions of accelerated protons with gas nuclei and their subsequent acceleration by SNR shock. It is shown that generation of secondary CRs in SNRs produces considerable effect in their resultant energy spectrum making it essentially flatter above 10 GeV. It is shown that calculated energy spectra of antiprotons, positrons and secondary nuclei Li, Be, B are well consistent with experimental data obtained in recent experiments PAMELA, Fermi and AMS-02.

Newly-Discovered Anomalies in Galactic Cosmic Rays: Time for Exotic Scenarios?

Recent observations of galactic cosmic rays (CR) in the 1-500 GeV energy range have revealed striking deviations from what deemed “standard.” The anomalies cut across hadronic and leptonic CRs. I discuss findings that challenge physical mechanisms long held responsible for the CR production in galactic supernova remnants (SNR). I also consider some new physics of particle acceleration in SNR shocks that is not part of conventional models but may explain the anomalies. However, a possible 20–30% excess remains unaccounted for in the e+/e+ ratio over the range of a few 100 GeV. If not explained by future models, it suggests an additional source of positrons such as a dark matter decay/annihilation or pulsar contribution. Earlier efforts to explain both the e+/e− and p/He anomalies with the “standard” models by adjusting the SNR environmental parameters and multiple sources are critically assessed.

Toward the Understanding of the Physical Origin of Recombining Plasma in the Supernova Remnant IC 443

Abstract We perform a spatially resolved spectroscopic analysis of X-ray emission from the supernova remnant (SNR) IC 443 with Suzaku. All of the spectra are well reproduced by a model consisting of a collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE) and two recombining plasma (RP) components. Although previous X-ray studies found an RP in the northeastern region, this is the first report on RPs in the other parts of the remnant. The electron temperature, kT e , of the CIE component is almost uniform at ∼0.2 keV across the remnant. The CIE plasma has metal abundances consistent with solar and is concentrated toward the rim of the remnant, suggesting that it is of shocked interstellar medium origin. The two RP components have different kT e : one in the range of 0.16–0.28 keV and the other in the range of 0.48–0.67 keV. The electron temperatures of both RP components decrease toward the southeast, where the SNR shock is known to be interacting with a molecular cloud. We also find the normalization ratio of the lower-kT e RP to higher-kT e RP components increases toward the southeast. Both results suggest the X-ray emitting plasma in the southeastern region is significantly cooled by some mechanism. One of the plausible cooling mechanisms is a thermal conduction between the hot plasma and the molecular cloud. If the cooling proceeds faster than the recombination timescale of the plasma, the same mechanism can account for the recombining plasma as well.

Non-linear acceleration at supernova remnant shocks and the hardening in the cosmic ray spectrum

Abstract In the last few years, several experiments have shown that the cosmic ray spectrum below the knee is not a perfect power law. In particular, the proton and helium spectra show a spectral hardening by ∼0.1–0.2 in spectral index at particle energies of ∼ 200–300 GeV nucleon−1. Moreover, the helium spectrum is found to be harder than that of protons by ∼0.1 and some evidence for a similar hardening was also found in the spectra of heavier elements. Here, we consider the possibility that the hardening may be the result of a dispersion in the slope of the spectrum of cosmic rays accelerated at supernova remnant shocks. Such a dispersion is indeed expected within the framework of non-linear theories of diffusive shock acceleration, which predict steeper (harder) particle spectra for larger (smaller) cosmic ray acceleration efficiencies.

Diffuse gamma-ray emission from self-confined cosmic rays around Galactic sources

The propagation of particles accelerated at supernova remnant shocks and escaping the parent remnants is likely to proceed in a strongly non-linear regime, due to the efficient self-generation of Alfv\'en waves excited through streaming instability near the sources. Depending on the amount of neutral hydrogen present in the regions around the sites of supernova explosions, cosmic rays may accumulate an appreciable grammage in the same regions and get self-confined for non-negligible times, which in turn results in an enhanced rate of production of secondaries. Here we calculate the contribution to the diffuse gamma-ray background due to the overlap along lines of sight of several of these extended halos as due to pion production induced by self-confined cosmic rays. We find that if the density of neutrals is low, the halos can account for a substantial fraction of the diffuse emission observed by Fermi-LAT, depending on the orientation of the line of sight with respect to the direction of the Galactic centre.

Particle-in-cell simulation of shock waves with different kinds of ions.

The problem of Cosmic Ray (CR) origin and acceleration is a widely discussed problem of modern astrophysics. It is considered that most likely CR sources are supernova remnant shock waves. One of the methods to study particle injection and acceleration by shock waves is a particle-in-cell computer simulation. In this paper we present results of shock wave simulations based on our self-developed implicit particle-in-cell code. First, we test the code with the well-known two stream and Weibel instabilities and second, simulate shock waves in plasma with different particle composition. Using the obtained results we study the process of charged particle acceleration at the shock front.

Superdiffusion of relativistic electrons at supernova remnant shocks

Anomalous transport has been observed in various systems as nonlinear systems, numerical simulations of plasma turbulence, in laboratory plasmas, and recently in the propagation of energetic particles in the interplanetary space. Thanks to in situ observations it has been possible to deduce transport properties directly from spacecraft data. This technique has further found applicability to remote observations of relativistic electrons accelerated at supernova remnants (SNRs) shocks, pointing out that far upstream of the blast waves, the x-ray synchrotron emission, as captured by the Chandra spacecraft, is consistent with models of superdiffusive transport (i.e., transport faster than normal diffusive). Here we present and summarize evidences of superdiffusion both in the interplanetary space and upstream of SNRs shock fronts, in particular by analyzing, for the first time in the framework of superdiffusion, the transport properties of electrons accelerated at the young G1.9+0.3 SNR. We also briefly describe how this new model can be used to interpret radio emissions from electrons accelerated at shocks forming during galaxy cluster mergers.