H.E.S.S. observations of massive stellar clusters
arXiv:0906.2637
Abstract
Stellar clusters are potential acceleration sites of very-high-energy (VHE, E > 100GeV) particles since they host supernova remnants (SNRs) and pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). Additionally, in stellar clusters, particles can also be accelerated e.g. at the boundaries of wind-blown bubbles, in colliding wind zones in massive binary systems or in the framework of collective wind or wind/supernova(SN) ejecta scenarios. Motivated by the detection of VHE gamma-ray emission towards Westerlund 2 and assuming similar particle acceleration mechanisms at work, Westerlund 1 is an even more promising target for VHE gamma-ray observations given that massive star content and distance are more favorable for detectable VHE gamma-ray emission compared to Westerlund 2. Here, H.E.S.S. observations of massive stellar clusters in general with special emphasis on the most massive stellar cluster in the galaxy, Westerlund 1 are summarized.
Invited talk at HEPIMS Workshop (Jaen 2009); 10 pages, 4 figures, to appear in PASP
References in corpus (1)
Cited by in corpus (6)
- Core-collapse supernova inside the core of a young massive star cluster: 3D MHD simulations
- X-ray emission from Westerlund 2 detected by SRG/ART-XC and Chandra: search for radiation of TeV leptons
- The discovery of a molecular cavity in the Norma near arm associated to H.E.S.S gamma-ray source located in the direction of Westerlund 1
- The Galactic Sky seen by H.E.S.S
- Galactic sources of E>100 GeV gamma-rays seen by Fermi telescope
- CANGAROO-III observation of TeV gamma rays from the unidentified gamma-ray source HESS J1614-518