Models for Nonthermal Photon Spectra

Abstract

We describe models of nonthermal photon emission from a homogeneous distribution of relativistic electrons and protons. Contributions from the synchrotron, inverse Compton, nonthermal bremsstrahlung and neutral-pion decay processes are computed separately using a common parameterization of the underlying distribution of nonthermal particles. The models are intended for use in fitting spectra from multi-wavelength observations and are designed to be accurate and efficient. Although our applications have focused on Galactic supernova remnants, the software is modular, making it straightforward to customize for different applications. In particular, the shapes of the particle distribution functions and the shape of the seed photon spectrum used by the inverse Compton model are defined in separate modules and may be customized for specific applications. We assess the accuracy of these models by using a recurrence relation and by comparing them with analytic results and with previous numerical work by other authors.

14 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ Supplement

References in corpus (7)

• First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Preliminary Maps and Basic Results
• Radio to Gamma-Ray Emission from Shell-type Supernova Remnants: Predictions from Non-linear Shock Acceleration Models
• Nonthermal Emission from a Supernova Remnant in a Molecular Cloud
• The Galactic Diffuse Gamma-ray Spectrum from Cosmic-ray Proton Interactions
• The Formal Underpinnings of the Response Functions used in X-Ray Spectral Analysis
• The Identification of Infrared Synchrotron Radiation from Cassiopeia A
• RXTE, ROSAT and ASCA Observations of G347.3-0.5 (RX J1713.7-3946): Probing Cosmic Ray Acceleration by a Galactic Shell-Type Supernova Remnant

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Fermi Establishes Classical Novae as a Distinct Class of Gamma-Ray Sources
• Cosmic ray diffusion near the Bohm limit in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant
• Evidence of a Curved Synchrotron Spectrum in the Supernova Remnant SN 1006
• Fermi LAT and WMAP observations of the supernova remnant HB 21
• On the continuum radio-spectrum of Cas A: possible evidence of the non-linear particle acceleration
• X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Emission from Middle-aged Supernova Remnants in Cavities. I. Spherical Symmetry
• Nonthermal Bremsstrahlung vs. Synchrotron Radiation: Cas A