Optical reconstruction of dust in the region of SNR RX J1713.7-3946 from astrometric data

Abstract

The origin of the radiation observed in the region of the supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946, one of the brightest TeV emitters, has been debated since its discovery. The existence of atomic and molecular clouds in this object supports the idea that part of the GeV gamma rays in this region originate from proton-proton collisions. However, the observed column density of protons derived from gas observations cannot explain the whole emission. Yet there could be a fraction of protons contained in fainter structures that have note been detected so far. Here we search for faint objects in the line of sight of RX J1713.7-3946 using the principle of light extinction and the ESA/Gaia DR2 astrometric and photometric data. We reveal and locate with precision a number of dust clouds and note that only one appears to be in the vicinity of RX J1713.7-3946. We estimate the embedded mass to $M_{dust}=(7.0\pm 0.6)\times 10^3{M}_{\odot }$ which might be big enough to contain the missing protons. Finally, using the fact that the supernova remnant is expected to be located in a dusty environment and that there appears to be only one such structure in the vicinity of RX J1713.7-3946, we set a very precise constrain to the supernova remnant distance, at ($1.12\pm 0.01$) kpc.

References in corpus (26)

• Interstellar Dust Grains
• Letter of Intent for KM3NeT 2.0
• The Optical to Mid-Infrared Extinction Law Based on the APOGEE, Gaia DR2, Pan-STARRS1, SDSS, APASS, 2MASS and WISE Surveys
• X-Ray Emission From the Shell-Type SNR G347.3-0.5
• Photo-astrometric distances, extinctions, and astrophysical parameters for Gaia DR2 stars brighter than G = 18
• Toward Understanding the Cosmic-ray Acceleration at Young Supernova Remnants Interacting with Interstellar Clouds: Possible Applications to RX J1713.7-3946
• Observations of the young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• The "True" Column Density Distribution in Star-Forming Molecular Clouds
• Resolving nearby dust clouds
• A Detailed Study of the Molecular and Atomic Gas Toward the γ-ray SNR RX J1713.7-3946: Spatial TeV γ-ray and ISM Gas Correspondence
• A High-Resolution Study of Nonthermal Radio and X-Ray Emission from SNR G347.3-0.5
• Probing X-ray Absorption and Optical Extinction in the Interstellar Medium Using Chandra Observations of Supernova Remnants
• H.E.S.S. observations of RX J1713.7-3946 with improved angular and spectral resolution; evidence for gamma-ray emission extending beyond the X-ray emitting shell
• Hadronic gamma-rays from RX J1713.7-3946?
• A Precise Determination of the Mid-Infrared Interstellar Extinction Law Based on the APOGEE Spectroscopic Survey
• A Detailed Study of Molecular Clouds toward the TeV Gamma-Ray SNR G347.3-0.5
• Star Forming Dense Cloud Cores in the TeV γ-ray SNR RX J1713.7-3946
• Charting nearby dust clouds using Gaia data only
• Non-thermal X-rays and interstellar gas toward the γ-ray supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946: Evidence for X-ray enhancement around CO and HI clumps
• Supernova remnants in clumpy media: particle propagation and gamma-ray emission
• A detailed study of non-thermal X-ray properties and interstellar gas toward the γ-ray supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946
• Gamma-ray spectrum of RX J1713.7-3946 in the Fermi era and future detection of neutrinos
• On the potential of Cherenkov Telescope Arrays and KM3 Neutrino Telescopes for the detection of extended sources
• Dense Gas Towards the RXJ1713.7-3946 Supernova Remnant
• Mid-infrared extinction and fresh silicate dust towards the Galactic Center
• Gamma-ray emission from young supernova remnants: hadronic or leptonic?

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Pursuing the origin of the gamma rays in RX J1713.7$-$3946 quantifying the hadronic and leptonic components
• Bayesian inference of three-dimensional gas maps: II. Galactic HI
• TRAPUM search for pulsars in supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae -- I. Survey description and initial discoveries
• Gaia Focused Product Release: A catalogue of sources around quasars to search for strongly lensed quasars
• New method for estimating molecular cloud distances based on Gaia, 2MASS, and the TRILEGAL galaxy model
• Possible Detection of X-Ray Emitting Circumstellar Material in the Synchrotron-Dominated Supernova Remnant RX J 1713.7-3946
• Survival of Molecular Complexity under Recent Supernova Feedback: Detection of Hot Cores in RX J1713.7-3946