Discovery of very high energy gamma-ray emission in the W 28 (G6.4-0.1) region, and multiwavelength comparisons

H.E.S.S. observations of the old-age (>10^4yr; ~0.5deg diameter) composite supernova remnant (SNR) W 28 reveal very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission situated at its northeastern and southern boundaries. The northeastern VHE source (HESS J1801-233) is in an area where W 28 is interacting with a dense molecular cloud, containing OH masers, local radio and X-ray peaks. The southern VHE sources (HESS J1800-240 with components labelled A, B and C) are found in a region occupied by several HII regions, including the ultracompact HII region W 28A2. Our analysis of NANTEN CO data reveals a dense molecular cloud enveloping this southern region, and our reanalysis of EGRET data reveals MeV/GeV emission centred on HESS J1801-233 and the northeastern interaction region.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the 30th ICRC, Merida, Mexico, 200

Nonthermal X-radiation of SNR RX J1713.7-3946: The Relations to a Nearby Molecular Cloud

The recent X-ray and CO observations of RX J1713.7-3946 show that a significant fraction of the nonthermal X-ray emission of this unique supernova remnant associates, in one way or another, with a molecular cloud interacting with the west part of the shell. This adds a new puzzle in the origin of X-ray emission which cannot be easily explained within the standard model in accordance of which X-rays are result of synchrotron radiation of multi-TeV electrons accelerated by supernova shock waves. We explore an alternative origin of the X-ray emission assuming that it is produced by secondary electrons resulting from high energy hadronic interactions in the molecular gas. Such a scenario could explain in a quite natural way the apparent correlation between the X-ray and CO morphologies. However, the TeV gamma-ray emission recently reported by H.E.S.S. significantly constrains the parameter space of this model. Namely, this mechanism cannot reproduce the bulk of the observed X-ray flux unless one postulates existence of a PeV cosmic-ray component penetrating with an unusually hard spectrum into the dense cloud.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Proc. of Int. Symp. on High Energy Gamma-ray Astronomy, Heidelberg (July 2004

XMM-Newton observations of HESS J1813-178 reveal a composite Supernova remnant

We present X-ray and 12CO(J=1-0) observations of the very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray source HESS J1813-178 with the aim of understanding the origin of the gamma-ray emission. Using this dataset we are able to undertake spectral and morphological studies of the X-ray emission from this object with greater precision than previous studies. NANTEN 12CO(J=1-0) data are used to search for correlations of the gamma-ray emission with molecular clouds which could act as target material for gamma-ray production in a hadronic scenario. The NANTEN 12CO(J=1-0) observations show a giant molecular cloud of mass 2.5 10^5 M_{\sun} at a distance of 4 kpc in the vicinity of HESS J1813-178. Even though there is no direct positional coincidence, this giant cloud might have influenced the evolution of the gamma-ray source and its surroundings. The X-ray data show a highly absorbed non-thermal X-ray emitting object coincident with the previously known ASCA source AX J1813-178 showing a compact core and an extended tail towards the north-east, located in the centre of the radio shell-type Supernova remnant (SNR) G12.82-0.2. This central object shows morphological and spectral resemblance to a Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN) and we therefore consider that the object is very likely to be a composite SNR. We discuss the scenario in which the gamma-rays originate in the shell of the SNR and the one in which they originate in the central object. We demonstrate, that in order to connect the core X-ray emission to the VHE gamma-ray emission electrons have to be accelerated to energies of at least 1 PeV.Comment: Submitted to A&

The multi-band nonthermal emission from the supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946

Nonthermal X-rays and very high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$-rays have been detected from the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946, and especially the recent observations with the \textit{Suzaku} satellite clearly reveal a spectral cutoff in the X-ray spectrum, which directly relates to the cutoff of the energy spectrum of the parent electrons. However, whether the origin of the VHE $\gamma$-rays from the SNR is hadronic or leptonic is still in debate. We studied the multi-band nonthermal emission from RX J1713.7-3946 based on a semi-analytical approach to the nonlinear shock acceleration process by including the contribution of the accelerated electrons to the nonthermal radiation. The results show that the multi-band observations on RX J1713.7-3946 can be well explained in the model with appropriate parameters and the TeV $\gamma$-rays have hadronic origin, i.e., they are produced via proton-proton (p-p) interactions as the relativistic protons accelerated at the shock collide with the ambient matter.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted by MNRA

Different mechanism of two-proton emission from proton-rich nuclei 23^{23}Al and 22^{22}Mg

Two-proton relative momentum ($q_{pp}$) and opening angle ($\theta_{pp}$) distributions from the three-body decay of two excited proton-rich nuclei, namely $^{23}$Al $\rightarrow$ p + p + $^{21}$Na and $^{22}$Mg $\rightarrow$ p + p + $^{20}$Ne, have been measured with the projectile fragment separator (RIPS) at the RIKEN RI Beam Factory. An evident peak at $q_{pp}\sim20$ MeV/c as well as a peak in $\theta_{pp}$ around 30$^\circ$ are seen in the two-proton break-up channel from a highly-excited $^{22}$Mg. In contrast, such peaks are absent for the $^{23}$Al case. It is concluded that the two-proton emission mechanism of excited $^{22}$Mg is quite different from the $^{23}$Al case, with the former having a favorable diproton emission component at a highly excited state and the latter dominated by the sequential decay process

Nuclear structure of 30S and its implications for nucleosynthesis in classical novae

The uncertainty in the 29P(p,gamma)30S reaction rate over the temperature range of 0.1 - 1.3 GK was previously determined to span ~4 orders of magnitude due to the uncertain location of two previously unobserved 3+ and 2+ resonances in the 4.7 - 4.8 MeV excitation region in 30S. Therefore, the abundances of silicon isotopes synthesized in novae, which are relevant for the identification of presolar grains of putative nova origin, were uncertain by a factor of 3. To investigate the level structure of 30S above the proton threshold (4394.9(7) keV), a charged-particle spectroscopy and an in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy experiments were performed. Differential cross sections of the 32S(p,t)30S reaction were measured at 34.5 MeV. Distorted wave Born approximation calculations were performed to constrain the spin-parity assignments of the observed levels. An energy level scheme was deduced from gamma-gamma coincidence measurements using the 28Si(3He,n-gamma)30S reaction. Spin-parity assignments based on measurements of gamma-ray angular distributions and gamma-gamma directional correlation from oriented nuclei were made for most of the observed levels of 30S. As a result, the resonance energies corresponding to the excited states in 4.5 MeV - 6 MeV region, including the two astrophysically important states predicted previously, are measured with significantly better precision than before. The uncertainty in the rate of the 29P(p,gamma)30S reaction is substantially reduced over the temperature range of interest. Finally, the influence of this rate on the abundance ratios of silicon isotopes synthesized in novae are obtained via 1D hydrodynamic nova simulations.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figure