Particle acceleration in the expanding blast wave of Eta Carina's Great Eruption of 1843

Abstract

Non-thermal hard X-ray and high-energy (HE; 1 MeV < E < 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission in the direction of Eta Carina has been recently detected using the INTEGRAL, AGILE and Fermi satellites. So far this emission has been interpreted in the framework of particle acceleration in the colliding wind region between the two massive stars. However, the existence of a very fast moving blast wave which originates in the historical 1843 "Great Eruption" provides an alternative particle acceleration site in this system. Here we explore an alternate scenario and find that inverse Compton emission from electrons accelerated in the blast wave can naturally explain both the flux and spectral shape of the measured hard X-ray and HE gamma-ray emission. This scenario is further supported by the lack of significant variability in the INTEGRAL and Fermi measured fluxes.

arXiv comment13 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; v2: corrected SED and discussion in Section 4 accordingly

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• High-energy radiation from the massive binary system Eta Carinae
• The first full orbit of Eta Carinae seen by Fermi
• Gamma-ray follow-up studies on Eta Carinae
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• High energy gamma-ray emission from compact galactic sources in the context of observations with the next generation Cherenkov Telescope Arrays
• Probing cosmic ray escape from η Carinae
• Constraints on the non-thermal emission from Eta Carinae's blast wave of 1843