Supernova Remnants and GLAST

It has long been speculated that supernova remnants represent a major source of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. Observations over the past decade have ceremoniously unveiled direct evidence of particle acceleration in SNRs to energies approaching the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum. Nonthermal X-ray emission from shell-type SNRs reveals multi-TeV electrons, and the dynamical properties of several SNRs point to efficient acceleration of ions. Observations of TeV gamma-ray emission have confirmed the presence of energetic particles in several remnants as well, but there remains considerable debate as to whether this emission originates with high energy electrons or ions. Equally uncertain are the exact conditions that lead to efficient particle acceleration. Based on the catalog of EGRET sources, we know that there is a large population of Galactic gamma-ray sources whose distribution is similar to that of SNRs. With the increased resolution and sensitivity of GLAST, the gamma-ray SNRs from this population will be identified. Their detailed emission structure, along with their spectra, will provide the link between their environments and their spectra in other wavebands to constrain emission models and to potentially identify direct evidence of ion acceleration in SNRs. Here I summarize recent observational and theoretical work in the area of cosmic ray acceleration by SNRs, and discuss the contributions GLAST will bring to our understanding of this problem.Comment: 5 pages, to be published in "The Proceedings of the First International GLAST Symposium", February 5-8, 2007, Stanford University, AIP, Eds. S. Ritz, P. F. Michelson, and C. Meega

Multiband Nonthermal Radiative Properties of HESS J1813-178

The source HESS J1813-178 was detected in the survey of the inner Galaxy in TeV gamma-rays, and a SNR G12.8-0.0 was identified in the radio band to be associated with it. The PWN embedded in the SNR is powered by an energetic pulsar PSR J1813-1749, which was recently discovered. Whether the TeV gamma-rays originate from the SNR shell or the PWN is uncertain now. We investigate theoretically the multiwavelength nonthermal radiation from the composite SNR G12.8-0.0. The emission from the particles accelerated in the SNR shell is calculated based on a semianalytical method to the nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration mechanism. In the model, the magnetic field is self-generated via resonant streaming instability, and the dynamical reaction of the field on the shock is taken into account. Based on a model which couples the dynamical and radiative evolution of a PWN in a non-radiative SNR, the dynamics and the multi-band emission of the PWN are investigated. The particles are injected with a spectrum of a relativistic Maxwellian plus a power law high-energy tail with an index of -2.5. Our results indicate that the radio emission from the shell can be well reproduced as synchrotron radiation of the electrons accelerated by the SNR shock; with an ISM number density of 1.4 cm^{-3} for the remnant, the gamma-ray emission from the SNR shell is insignificant, and the observed X-rays and VHE gamma-rays from the source are consistent with the emission produced by electrons/positrons injected in the PWN via synchrotron radiation and IC scattering, respectively; the resulting gamma-ray flux for the shell is comparable to the detected one only with a relatively larger density of about 2.8 cm^{-3}. The VHE gamma-rays of HESS J1813-178 can be naturally explained to mainly originate from the nebula although the contribution of the SNR shell becomes significant with a denser ambient medium.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Fermi-LAT Observations of Supernova Remnant Kesteven 79

In this paper we report on the detection of $\gamma$-ray emission coincident with the Galactic supernova remnant Kesteven 79 (Kes 79). We analysed approximately 52 months of data obtained with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Kes 79 is thought to be interacting with adjacent molecular clouds based on the presence of strong $^{12}$CO J = 1 $\rightarrow$ 0 and HCO$^{+}$ J = 1 $\rightarrow$ 0 emission and the detection of 1720 MHz line emission towards the east of the remnant. Acceleration of cosmic rays is expected to occur at SNR shocks, and SNRs interacting with dense molecular clouds provide a good testing ground for detecting and analysing the production of $\gamma$-rays from the decay of $\pi^0$ into two $\gamma$-ray photons. This analysis investigates $\gamma$-ray emission coincident with Kes 79, which has a detection significance of $\sim 7 \sigma$. Additionally we present an investigation of the spatial and spectral characteristics of Kes 79 using multiple archival XMM-Newton observations of this remnant. We determine the global X-ray properties of Kes 79 and estimate the ambient density across the remnant. We also performed a similar analysis for Galactic SNR Kesteven 78 (Kes 78), but due to large uncertainties in the $\gamma$-ray background model, no conclusion can be made about an excess of GeV $\gamma$-ray associated with the remnant.Comment: Accepted by ApJ; 16 pages, 5 figures, 6 table