The Gamma-Ray Emission from the Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7-3946 Interacting with Two-phase Medium

Abstract

We study the origin of gamma rays from the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946. Using an analytical model, we calculate the distribution of cosmic rays (CRs) around the SNRs. Motivated by the results of previous studies, we assume that the SNR is interacting with two-phase interstellar medium (ISM), where dense clumps are surrounded by tenuous interclump medium. We also assume that only higher-energy protons (~> TeV) can penetrate the dense clumps. We find that pi^0-decay gamma rays produced by protons reproduce the observed gamma-ray spectrum peaked at ~TeV. On the other hand, it has recently been indicated that the observed ISM column density (N_p), the X-ray surface brightness (I_X), and the gamma-ray surface brightness (I_g) at grid points across the SNR form a plane in the three-dimensional (3D) space of (N_p, I_X, I_g). We find that the planar configuration is naturally reproduced if the ISM or the CR electron-to-proton ratio is not spherically uniform. We show that the shift of the observed data in the 3D space could be used to identify which of the quantities, the ISM density, the CR electron-to-proton ratio, or the magnetic field, varies in the azimuthal direction of the SNR.

matched the published version

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