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Deep morphological and spectral study of the SNR RCW 86 with Fermi-LAT

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1]
  1. Clemson Univ., SC (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
RCW 86 is a young supernova remnant (SNR) showing a shell-type structure at several wavelengths and is thought to be an efficient cosmic-ray (CR) accelerator. Earlier Fermi Large Area Telescope results reported the detection of γ-ray emission coincident with the position of RCW 86 but its origin (leptonic or hadronic) remained unclear due to the poor statistics. Thanks to 6.5 years of data acquired by the Fermi -LAT and the new event reconstruction Pass 8, we report the significant detection of spatially extended emission coming from RCW 86. The spectrum is described by a power-law function with a very hard photon index (Γ = 1.42±0.1stat ±0.06syst) in the 0.1–500 GeV range and an energy flux above 100 MeV of (2.91 ± 0.8stat ± 0.12syst) × 10-11 erg cm-2 s-1. Gathering all the available multiwavelength (MWL) data, we perform a broadband modeling of the nonthermal emission of RCW 86 to constrain parameters of the nearby medium and bring new hints about the origin of the γ-ray emission. For the whole SNR, the modeling favors a leptonic scenario in the framework of a two-zone model with an average magnetic field of 10.2 ± 0.7 μG and a limit on the maximum energy injected into protons of 2 × 1049 erg for a density of 1 cm-3. In addition, parameter values are derived for the North-East (NE) and South-West (SW) regions of RCW 86, providing the first indication of a higher magnetic field in the SW region.
Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Contributing Organization:
Fermi LAT Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1355683
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 22886956
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 819; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (10)

Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog collection January 2020
3FHL: The Third Catalog of Hard Fermi -LAT Sources text January 2017
Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog text January 2020
Evolution of High-energy Particle Distribution in Supernova Remnants journal March 2019
Possible Evidence for Cosmic-Ray Acceleration in the Type Ia SNR RCW 86: Spatial Correlation between TeV Gamma-Rays and Interstellar Atomic Protons journal April 2019
Electron Acceleration in Middle-age Shell-type γ -Ray Supernova Remnants journal April 2019
3FHL: The Third Catalog of Hard Fermi -LAT Sources journal September 2017
Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog journal March 2020
3FHL: The Third Catalog of Hard Fermi-LAT Sources text January 2017
Evolution of high-energy particle distribution in Supernova Remnants text January 2018

Figures / Tables (14)

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TABLE 4(p. 11)table TABLE 4
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79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS