The likely Fermi detection of the supernova remnant RCW 103

Journal Article · Sat Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/781/2/64· OSTI ID:22348133

Xing, Yi; Wang, Zhongxiang ^[1]; Zhang, Xiao; Chen, Yang ^[2]

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1. Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030 (China)
2. Department Astronomy, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing 210093 (China)

We report on the results from our γ-ray analysis of the supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 103 region. The data were taken with the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. An extended source is found at a position consistent with that of RCW 103 and its emission was only detected above 1 GeV (10σ significance), with a power-law spectrum with a photon index of 2.0 ± 0.1. We obtain its 1-300 GeV spectrum and the total flux gives a luminosity of 8.3 × 10{sup 33} erg s{sup –1} at a source distance of 3.3 kpc. Given the positional coincidence and property similarities of this source with other SNRs, we identify it as the likely Fermi γ-ray counterpart to RCW 103. Including radio measurements of RCW 103, the spectral energy distribution (SED) is modeled by considering emission mechanisms based on both hadronic and leptonic scenarios. We find that models in the two scenarios can reproduce the observed SED, while in the hadronic scenario the existence of SNR-molecular cloud interactions is suggested as a high density of the target protons is required.

• OSTI ID: 22348133
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 781; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCELERATION
DENSITY
DETECTION
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAMMA RADIATION
GEV RANGE
INTERACTIONS
LUMINOSITY
PHOTONS
PROTONS
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
TELESCOPES