Constraining leptonic emission scenarios for the PeVatron candidate HESS J1702-420 with deep XMM-Newton observations

Abstract

The unidentified TeV source HESS J1702-420 has recently been proposed as a new hadronic PeVatron candidate, based on the discovery of a small-scale emission sub-region with extremely hard gamma-ray spectrum up to 100 TeV (named HESS J1702-420A). Given the difficulty to discriminate between a hadronic or leptonic origin of the TeV emission, based on the H.E.S.S. measurement alone, we opted for a multi-wavelength approach. A deep X-ray observation was carried out using the XMM-Newton satellite, with the goal of probing a possible association with a hidden leptonic accelerator. No evidence of a clear counterpart for HESS J1702-420A was found in the X-ray data. After excluding an association with all nearby X-ray point sources, we derived strict upper limits on the diffuse X-ray emission and average magnetic field in the HESS J1702-420A region. We additionally report the serendipitous discovery of a new extended X-ray source, whose association with HESS J1702-420A is not obvious but cannot be ruled out either. A set of scripts dedicated to the multi-wavelength modeling of X-ray and gamma-ray data, based on Gammapy, Naima and Xspec, was developed in the context of this work and is made publicly available along with this paper.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 13 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables

References in corpus (28)

• Array Programming with NumPy
• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• On the Absorption of X-rays in the Interstellar Medium
• Binary companions of evolved stars in APOGEE DR14: Search method and catalog of ~5,000 companions
• A statistical study of 233 pulsar proper motions
• The Chandra Source Catalog
• The H.E.S.S. survey of the Inner Galaxy in very high-energy gamma-rays
• The H.E.S.S. Galactic plane survey
• The Southern Galactic Plane Survey: HI Observations and Analysis
• HESS VHE Gamma-Ray Sources Without Identified Counterparts
• The observed velocity distribution of young pulsars
• Simple analytical approximations for treatment of inverse Compton scattering of relativistic electrons in the black-body radiation field
• The distribution of cosmic-ray sources in the Galaxy, gamma-rays, and the gradient in the CO-to-H2 relation
• Temporal and spectral gamma-ray properties of Mkn421 above 250 GeV from CAT observations between 1996 and 2000
• Geminga's puzzling pulsar wind nebula
• Probing the extent of the non-thermal emission from the Vela X region at TeV energies with H.E.S.S
• Particle Transport within the Pulsar Wind Nebula HESS J1825-137
• A joint spectro-imaging analysis of the XMM-Newton and HESS observations of the supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946
• Characterization of new hard X-ray Cataclysmic Variables
• Fe Line Diagnostics of Cataclysmic Variables and Galactic Ridge X-ray Emission
• Hard X-ray properties of magnetic cataclysmic variables
• The Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey - Data Release 3
• The start of the Sagittarius spiral arm (Sagittarius origin) and the start of the Norma spiral arm (Norma origin) - model-computed and observed arm tangents at galactic longitudes -20 degrees < l < +23 degrees
• A new nearby pulsar wind nebula overlapping the RX J0852.0-4622 supernova remnant
• The Mouse Pulsar Wind Nebula
• Evidence of 100 TeV $\gamma$-ray emission from HESS J1702-420: A new PeVatron candidate
• Suzaku observation of the unidentified VHE gamma-ray source HESS J1702-420
• Constraining the geometry of PSR J0855-4644: A nearby Pulsar Wind Nebula with Double Torus/Jet Morphology

Cited by in corpus (3)

• HESS J1809$-$193: a halo of escaped electrons around a pulsar wind nebula?
• Detection of molecular clouds in the PeVatron candidate source LHAASO J0341$+$5258 by the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope
• Search of extended emission from HESS J1702-420 with eROSITA