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arXiv · 1903.02373

Is Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A a PeVatron?

Xiao Zhang·Siming Liu
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Abstract

Cassiopeia A, a well-observed young core-collapse supernova remnant (SNR), is considered as one of the best candidates for studying very high-energy particle acceleration up to PeV via the diffusive shock mechanism. Recently, MAGIC observations revealed a $γ$-ray spectral cutoff at $\sim3.5$ TeV, suggesting that if the TeV $γ$-rays have a hadronic origin, SNR Cas A can only accelerate particles to tens of TeV. Here, we propose a two-zone emission model for regions associated with the forward (zone 1) and inward/reverse shocks (zone 2). Given the low density in zone 1, it dominates the high-frequency radio emission, soft X-ray rim via the synchrotron process and TeV $γ$-ray via the inverse Comptonization. With a relatively softer particle distribution and a higher cut-off energy for electrons, emissions from zone 2 dominate the low-frequency radio, hard X-ray via the synchrotron process and GeV $γ$-ray via hadronic processes. There is no evidence for high-energy cutoffs in the proton distributions implying that Cas A can still be a PeVatron. Hadronic processes from zone 1 dominate very high-energy gamma-ray emission. Future observations in hundreds of TeV range can test this model.

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Xiao Zhang, Siming Liu. 2019-03-06. Is Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A a PeVatron?. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357%2Fab09fe

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