Prospects for Cherenkov Telescope Array Observations of the Young Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7−3946
- CEA/IRFU/SAp, CEA Saclay, Bat 709, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
- Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi, 5, I-50125 Firenze (Italy)
- LUTH and GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, PSL Research University, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92190, Meudon (France)
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via di Frascati 33, I-00040, Monteporzio Catone (Italy)
- INFN Sezione di Napoli, Via Cintia, ed. G, I-80126 Napoli (Italy)
- Department of Physics and Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
- Grupo de Altas Energías, Universidad Complutense de Madrid., Av Complutense s/n, E-28040 Madrid (Spain)
- Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashi-wanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582 (Japan)
- School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052 (Australia)
- University of Namibia, Department of Physics, 340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave., Pioneerspark Windhoek (Namibia)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800 (Australia)
- Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904 1098 XH Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)
- Riken, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198 (Japan)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02180 (United States)
We perform simulations for future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observations of RX J1713.7−3946, a young supernova remnant (SNR) and one of the brightest sources ever discovered in very high energy (VHE) gamma rays. Special attention is paid to exploring possible spatial (anti)correlations of gamma rays with emission at other wavelengths, in particular X-rays and CO/H i emission. We present a series of simulated images of RX J1713.7−3946 for CTA based on a set of observationally motivated models for the gamma-ray emission. In these models, VHE gamma rays produced by high-energy electrons are assumed to trace the nonthermal X-ray emission observed by XMM-Newton , whereas those originating from relativistic protons delineate the local gas distributions. The local atomic and molecular gas distributions are deduced by the NANTEN team from CO and H i observations. Our primary goal is to show how one can distinguish the emission mechanism(s) of the gamma rays (i.e., hadronic versus leptonic, or a mixture of the two) through information provided by their spatial distribution, spectra, and time variation. This work is the first attempt to quantitatively evaluate the capabilities of CTA to achieve various proposed scientific goals by observing this important cosmic particle accelerator.
- OSTI ID:
- 22663628
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 840, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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