DISCOVERY OF TeV GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM TYCHO'S SUPERNOVA REMNANT

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L20· OSTI ID:21560422

Acciari, V A; Benbow, W ^[1]; Aliu, E; Errando, M ^[2]; Arlen, T ^[3]; Aune, T ^[4]; Beilicke, M; Buckley, J H; Bugaev, V; Dickherber, R ^[5]; Bradbury, S M ^[6]; Byrum, K ^[7]; Cannon, A; Collins-Hughes, E ^[8]; Cesarini, A ^[9]; Ciupik, L ^[10]; Cui, W; Finley, J P ^[11]; Duke, C ^[12]; Finnegan, G ^[13]

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1. Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Amado, AZ 85645 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Barnard College, Columbia University, NY 10027 (United States)
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)
4. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics and Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)
5. Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 (United States)
6. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT (United Kingdom)
7. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States)
8. School of Physics, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4 (Ireland)
9. School of Physics, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway (Ireland)
10. Astronomy Department, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, IL 60605 (United States)
11. Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States)
12. Department of Physics, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112-1690 (United States)
13. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States)

We report the discovery of TeV gamma-ray emission from the Type Ia supernova remnant (SNR) G120.1+1.4, known as Tycho's SNR. Observations performed in the period 2008-2010 with the VERITAS ground-based gamma-ray observatory reveal weak emission coming from the direction of the remnant, compatible with a point source located at 00{sup h}25{sup m}27.{sup s}0, + 64{sup 0}10'50'' (J2000). The TeV photon spectrum measured by VERITAS can be described with a power law dN/dE = C(E/3.42 TeV){sup -}{Gamma} with {Gamma} = 1.95 {+-} 0.51{sub stat} {+-} 0.30{sub sys} and C = (1.55 {+-} 0.43{sub stat} {+-} 0.47{sub sys}) x 10{sup -14} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} TeV{sup -1}. The integral flux above 1 TeV corresponds to {approx}0.9% of the steady Crab Nebula emission above the same energy, making it one of the weakest sources yet detected in TeV gamma rays. We present both leptonic and hadronic models that can describe the data. The lowest magnetic field allowed in these models is {approx}80 {mu}G, which may be interpreted as evidence for magnetic field amplification.

• OSTI ID: 21560422
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 730, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L20; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CRAB NEBULA
EMISSION
GAMMA RADIATION
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
NEBULAE
RADIATIONS
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS