High Energy Emission from Supernova Remnants

This paper discusses several aspects of current research on high energy emission from supernova remnants, covering the following main topics: 1) The recent evidence for magnetic field amplification near supernova remnant shocks, which makes that cosmic rays are more efficiently accelerated than previously thought. 2) The evidence that ions and electrons in some remnants have very different temperatures, and only equilibrate through Coulomb interactions. 3) The evidence that the explosion that created Cas A was asymmetric, and seems to have involved a jet/counter jet structure. And finally, 4), I will argue that the unremarkable properties of supernova remnants associated with magnetars candidates, suggest that magnetars are not formed from rapidly (P ~ 1 ms) rotating proto-neutron stars, but that it is more likely that they are formed from massive progenitors stars with high magnetic fields.Comment: Invited review, to be published in the proceedings of IAUS230: "Populations of High Energy Sources in Galaxies", 14-19 August 2005, Dublin, Eds E.J.A. Meurs and G. Fabbian

Supernova Remnants as the Sources of Galactic Cosmic Rays

The origin of cosmic rays holds still many mysteries hundred years after they were first discovered. Supernova remnants have for long been the most likely sources of Galactic cosmic rays. I discuss here some recent evidence that suggests that supernova remnants can indeed efficiently accelerate cosmic rays. For this conference devoted to the Astronomical Institute Utrecht I put the emphasis on work that was done in my group, but placed in a broader context: efficient cosmic-ray acceleration and the im- plications for cosmic-ray escape, synchrotron radiation and the evidence for magnetic- field amplification, potential X-ray synchrotron emission from cosmic-ray precursors, and I conclude with the implications of cosmic-ray escape for a Type Ia remnant like Tycho and a core-collapse remnant like Cas A.Comment: Proceedings of the Meeting "370 years of astronomy in Utrecht", Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, April 2-5, 2012 (ASPCS Conference Series

Non-thermal X-ray Emission from Supernova Remnants

Recent studies of narrow, X-ray synchrotron radiating filaments surrounding young supernova remnants indicate that magnetic fields strengths are relatively high, B ~ 0.1 mG, or even higher, and that diffusion is close to the Bohm limit. I illustrate this using Cas A as an example. Also older remnants such as RCW 86 appear to emit X-ray synchrotron radiation, but the emission is more diffuse, and not always confined to a region close to the shock front. I argue that for RCW 86 the magnetic field is likely to be low (B ~ 17 microGauss), and at the location where the shell emits X-ray synchrotron radiation the shock velocity is much higher than the average shock velocity of ~600 km/s.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the "International Symposium on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy" (Gamma-2004), Heidelberg, edited by F.A. Aharonian and H. Voelk (AIP, NY). This preprint version contains 13 pages, 5 figures (4 in color

A critical shock Mach number for particle acceleration in the absence of pre-existing cosmic rays: M=5M=\sqrt 5

It is shown that, under some generic assumptions, shocks cannot accelerate particles unless the overall shock Mach number exceeds a critical value M > sqrt(5). The reason is that for M <= sqrt(5) the work done to compress the flow in a particle precursor requires more enthalpy flux than the system can sustain. This lower limit applies to situations without significant magnetic field pressure. In case that the magnetic field pressure dominates the pressure in the unshocked medium, i.e. for low plasma beta, the resistivity of the magnetic field makes it even more difficult to fulfil the energetic requirements for the formation of shock with an accelerated particle precursor and associated compression of the upstream plasma. We illustrate the effects of magnetic fields for the extreme situation of a purely perpendicular magnetic field configuration with plasma beta = 0, which gives a minimum Mach number of M = 5/2. The situation becomes more complex, if we incorporate the effects of pre-existing cosmic rays, indicating that the additional degree of freedom allows for less strict Mach number limits on acceleration. We discuss the implications of this result for low Mach number shock acceleration as found in solar system shocks, and shocks in clusters of galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 14 pages, 10 figures. (Minor corrections wrt last version.

Asymmetric Type-Ia supernova origin of W49B as revealed from spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopic study

The origin of the asymmetric supernova remnant (SNR) W49B has been a matter of debate: is it produced by a rare jet-driven core-collapse supernova, or by a normal supernova that is strongly shaped by its dense environment? Aiming to uncover the explosion mechanism and origin of the asymmetric, centrally filled X-ray morphology of W49B, we have performed spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy and a search for potential point sources. We report new candidate point sources inside W49B. The Chandra X-ray spectra from W49B are well-characterized by two-temperature gas components ($\sim 0.27$ keV + 0.6--2.2 keV). The hot component gas shows a large temperature gradient from the northeast to the southwest and is over-ionized in most regions with recombination timescales of 1--$10\times 10^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$ s. The Fe element shows strong lateral distribution in the SNR east, while the distribution of Si, S, Ar, Ca is relatively smooth and nearly axially symmetric. Asymmetric Type-Ia explosion of a Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf well-explains the abundance ratios and metal distribution of W49B, whereas a jet-driven explosion and normal core-collapse models fail to describe the abundance ratios and large masses of iron-group elements. A model based on a multi-spot ignition of the white dwarf can explain the observed high $M_{\rm Mn}/M_{\rm Cr}$ value (0.8--2.2). The bar-like morphology is mainly due to a density enhancement in the center, given the good spatial correlation between gas density and X-ray brightness. The recombination ages and the Sedov age consistently suggest a revised SNR age of 5--6 kyr. This study suggests that despite the presence of candidate point sources projected within the boundary of this SNR, W49B is likely a Type-Ia SNR, which suggests that Type-Ia supernovae can also result in mixed-morphology SNRs.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in A&

What sources are the dominant Galactic cosmic-ray accelerators?

Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been considered to be the dominant source of Galactic cosmic rays, which implied that they provided most of the energy to power cosmic rays as well as being PeVatrons. The lack of evidence for PeV cosmic rays in SNRs, as well as theoretical considerations, has made this scenario untenable. At the same time the latest LHAASO and other gamma-ray results suggest that PeVatrons lurk inside starforming regions. Here I will discuss why SNRs should still be considered the main sources of Galactic cosmic rays at least up to 10 TeV, but that the cosmic-ray data allow for a second component of cosmic rays with energies up to several PeV. This second component could be a subset of supernovae/SNRs, reacceleration inside starforming regions, or pulsars. As a special case I show that the recent observations of Westerlund 1 by H.E.S.S. suggest a low value of the diffusion coefficient inside this region, which is, together with an Alfv\'en speed > 100 km/s, a prerequisite for making a starforming region collectively a PeVatron due to second order Fermi acceleration.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures. Proceeding of XVIII Vulcano Workshop (2022) on Frontier Objects in Astrophysics and Particle Physics, to appear in Frascati Physics Series vol. 74. (New version only corrected a mismatch in title between paper and meta-data.

High Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy of SN 1006

I discuss the high resolution XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) spectrum of SN1006. SN1006 is one of the best examples of a supernova remnant that is far out of ionization equilibrium. Moreover, optical, UV and X-ray data indicate that it is also out of temperature equilibrium. I discuss the X-ray evidence for this. In addition I discuss the lower resolution RGS spectrum of the eastern rim of SN 1006. Despite the lower resolution, the spectrum contains significant evidence for an asymmetric expansion velocity. Two likely solutions fit the O VII triplet. One with no significant thermal broadening and a shell velocity of \~6500 km/s, and one with significant broadening and a shell velocity of ~9500 km/s. The first solution seems the most plausible, as it is consistent with radio expansion measurements, which suggest a decelerated shell.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures (14 ps files including color figures). LaTeX format, uses aipproc.cls, aip-6d.clo, and aipxfm.sty; to appear in the proceedings of X-ray Diagnostics for Astrophysical Plasmas: Theory, Experiment, and Observation, ed. R. K. Smith (Melville: AIP