NuSTAR observations of the supernova remnant RX J1713.7$-$3946

Abstract

The shock waves of supernova remnants (SNRs) are prominent candidates for the acceleration of the Galactic cosmic rays. SNR RX J1713.7$-$3946 is one well-studied particle accelerator in our Galaxy because of its strong non-thermal X-ray and gamma-ray radiation. We have performed NuSTAR (3-79 keV) observations of the northwest rim of RX J1713.7$-$3946, where is the brightest part in X-ray and the shock speed is about 4000 km s${}^{-1}$. The spatially resolved X-ray emission from RX J1713.7$-$3946 is detected up to 20 keV for the first time. The hard X-ray image in 10-20 keV is broadly similar to the soft-band image in 3-10 keV. The typical spectrum is described by power-law model with exponential cutoff with the photon index $\Gamma$=2.15 and the cutoff energy ${\epsilon }_c$=18.8 keV. Using a synchrotron radiation model from accelerated electrons in the loss-limited case, the cutoff energy parameter ranges 0.6-1.9 keV, varying from region to region. Combined with the previous measurement of the shock speed, the acceleration of electrons is close to the Bohm-limit regime in the outer edge, while the standard picture of accelerated particles limited by synchrotron radiation in SNR shock is not applicable in the inner edge and the filamentary structure.

12 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (11)

• Analytical solutions for energy spectra of electrons accelerated by nonrelativistic shock-waves in shell type supernova remnants
• NuSTAR Observations of the Bullet Cluster: Constraints on Inverse Compton Emission
• Observations of the young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• INTEGRAL/IBIS all-sky survey in hard X-rays
• Study of Nonthermal Emission from SNR RX J1713.7-3946 with Suzaku
• Theory of cosmic ray production in the supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946
• Fast Variability of Nonthermal X-Ray Emission in Cassiopeia A: Probing Electron Acceleration in Reverse-Shocked Ejecta
• Hard X-ray emission from the Galactic ridge
• Locating the most energetic electrons in Cassiopeia A
• Expansion measurement of Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7-3946
• The Hard X-Ray View of the Young Supernova Remnant G1.9+0.3

Cited by in corpus (12)

• The Hunt for Pevatrons: The Case of Supernova Remnants
• Systematic Study of Acceleration Efficiency in Young Supernova Remnants with Nonthermal X-ray Observations
• Pursuing the origin of the gamma rays in RX J1713.7$-$3946 quantifying the hadronic and leptonic components
• NuSTAR measurement of the cosmic X-ray background in the 3-20 keV energy band
• Multi-wavelength Emission from Galactic Jets: the Case of the Microquasar SS433
• ALMA CO Observations of the Gamma-Ray Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7-3946: Discovery of Shocked Molecular Cloudlets and Filaments at 0.01 pc scales
• Shock-Cloud Interaction in the Southwestern Rim of RX J1713.7$-$3946 Evidenced by Chandra X-ray Observations
• Discovery of a shock-compressed magnetic field in the north-western rim of the young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 with X-ray polarimetry
• Long-term evolution of non-thermal emission from Type Ia and core-collapse supernova remnants in a diversified circumstellar medium
• Particle acceleration controlled by ambient density in the southwestern rim of RCW 86
• X-ray Hotspots in the Northwest Shell of the Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7$-$3946
• Radial Profiles of Non-thermal Emission from Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7-3946