Evidence of X-ray Synchrotron Emission from Electrons Accelerated to 40 TeV in the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
arXiv:astro-ph/9707110 · doi:10.1086/310878
Abstract
We present the 2-60 keV spectrum of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A measured using the Proportional Counter Array and the High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite. In addition to the previously reported strong emission-line features produced by thermal plasmas, the broad-band spectrum has a high-energy "tail" that extends to energies at least as high as 120 keV. This tail may be described by a broken power law that has photon indices of 1.8 +0.5/-0.6 and 3.04 +0.15/-0.13 and a break energy of 15.9 +0.3/-0.4 keV. We argue that the high-energy component, which dominates the spectrum above about 10 keV, is produced by synchrotron radiation from electrons that have energies up to at least 40 TeV. This conclusion supports the hypothesis that Galactic cosmic rays are accelerated predominantly in supernova remnants.
10 pages of text, 3 figures, accepted for Astrophys. J. Letters
References in corpus (1)
Cited by in corpus (98)
- The Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Mission
- Calibration of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Proportional Counter Array
- Supernova remnants: the X-ray perspective
- Supernova Remnants in the Sedov Expansion Phase: Thermal X-Ray Emission
- On the magnetic fields and particle acceleration in Cas A
- Cosmic-Ray Proton and Helium Spectra from the First CREAM Flight
- Nucleosynthesis and Mixing in Cassiopeia A
- Cosmic Ray Acceleration at the Forward Shock in Tycho's Supernova Remnant: Evidence from Chandra X-ray Observations
- X-Ray Emission From the Shell-Type SNR G347.3-0.5
- A Spatial and Spectral Study of Nonthermal Filaments in Historical Supernova Remnants: Observational Results with Chandra
- Evidence for TeV gamma ray emission from Cassiopeia A
- Discovery of TeV Gamma Rays from SN1006: Further Evidence for the SNR Origin of Cosmic Rays
- Radio to Gamma-Ray Emission from Shell-type Supernova Remnants: Predictions from Non-linear Shock Acceleration Models
- The Most Likely Sources of High Energy Cosmic-Ray Electrons in Supernova Remnants
- Chandra Detection of the Forward and Reverse Shocks in Cassiopeia-A
- RXTE Measurement of the Diffuse X-ray Emission From the Galactic Ridge: Implications for the Energetics of the Interstellar Medium
- Observational signatures of particle acceleration in supernova remnants
- Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Young Supernova Remnants Undergoing Efficient Particle Acceleration
- Thermal X-ray Emission and Cosmic Ray Production in Young Supernova Remnants
- Time dependence of the e^- flux measured by PAMELA during the July 2006 - December 2009 solar minimum
- Inter-galactic Shock Acceleration and the Cosmic Gamma-ray Background
- The signature of 44Ti in Cassiopeia A revealed by IBIS/ISGRI on INTEGRAL
- Electron acceleration in SNR and diffuse gamma-rays above 1 GeV
- Characterizing the non-thermal emission of Cas A
- Detection of the 67.9 keV and 78.4 keV lines associated with the radioactive decay of Ti-44 in Cassiopeia A
- TeV Gamma-Rays from Old Supernova Remnants
- Nonthermal Bremsstrahlung and Hard X-ray Emission from Clusters of Galaxies
- Fast Variability of Nonthermal X-Ray Emission in Cassiopeia A: Probing Electron Acceleration in Reverse-Shocked Ejecta
- Direct evidence of efficient cosmic ray acceleration and magnetic field amplification in Cassiopeia A
- Observation of VHE gamma-rays from Cassiopeia A with the MAGIC telescope
- Ergs: The Evolution of Shell Supernova Remnants
- Observations of the shell-type SNR Cassiopeia A at TeV energies with VERITAS
- Efficiency of Nonlinear Particle Acceleration at Cosmic Structure Shocks
- Gamma-ray emission from Cassiopeia A produced by accelerated cosmic rays
- Hydrodynamic Simulation of Supernova Remnants Including Efficient Particle Acceleration
- Separating Thermal and Nonthermal X-Rays in Supernova Remnants I: Total Fits to SN 1006 AD
- Thermal and Nonthermal X-Ray Emission in SNR RCW 86
- X-Ray Synchrotron Emission from 10-100 TeV Cosmic-Ray Electrons in the Supernova Remnant SN 1006
- XMM-Newton observations of the Galactic Supernova Remnant CTB 109 (G109.1-1.0)
- Broad-band Observations and Modeling of the Shell-Type Supernova Remnant G347.3-0.5
- Monitoring the Evolution of the X-ray Remnant of SN 1987A
- Accelerated Electrons in Cassiopeia A: An Explanation for the Hard X-ray Tail
- Time dependence of the electron and positron components of the cosmic radiation measured by the PAMELA experiment between July 2006 and December 2015
- Cassiopeia A: on the origin of the hard X-ray continuum and the implication of the observed O VIII Ly-alpha/Ly-beta distribution
- Cosmic ray diffusion near the Bohm limit in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant
- Radio Emission from a Young Supernova Remnant Interacting with an Interstellar Cloud: MHD Simulation with Relativistic Electrons
- Diffuse Hard X-ray Emission in Starburst Galaxies as Synchrotron from Very High Energy Electrons
- Raising the Dead: Clues to Type Ia Supernova Physics from the Remnant 0509-67.5
- Locating the most energetic electrons in Cassiopeia A
- Cosmic-ray propagation properties for an origin in SNRs
- An X-ray, Optical and Radio Search for Supernova Remnants in the Nearby Sculptor Group Sd Galaxy NGC 7793
- Accelerated Electrons in Cassiopeia A: Thermal and Electromagnetic Effects
- The X-ray Expansion of the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
- The Reddening Towards Cassiopeia A's Supernova: Constraining the 56Ni Yield
- Suzaku X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy of Cassiopeia A
- A Decline in the Nonthermal X-ray Emission from Cassiopeia A
- The Identification of Infrared Synchrotron Radiation from Cassiopeia A
- X-ray Observations of the New Pulsar--Supernova Remnant System PSR J1119-6127 and SNR G292.2-0.5
- Simulations of Supernova Remnants in Diffuse Media. II. Three Remnants and Their X-Ray Emission
- 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
- The imaging properties of the Gas Pixel Detector as a focal plane polarimeter
- Near-Infrared Synchrotron Emission from Cas A
- Thermal X-ray composites as an effect of projection
- The nonlinear saturation of the non-resonant kinetically driven streaming instability
- Non-thermal bremsstrahlung from supernova remnants and the effect of Coulomb losses
- Amplification of perpendicular and parallel magnetic fields by cosmic ray currents
- Non-Thermal X-ray Emission from the Northwestern Rim of the Galactic Supernova Remnant G266.2-1.2 (RX J0852.0-4622)
- Shocks and Particle Acceleration in Supernova Remnants: Observational Features
- Impacts of a power-law non-thermal electron tail on the ionization and recombination rates
- Origin of gamma-ray emission in the shell of Cassiopeia A
- Gamma-ray Observations of Explosive Nucleosynthesis Products
- Hard X-ray emissions from Cassiopeia A observed by INTEGRAL
- GLAST: Understanding the High Energy Gamma-Ray Sky
- Excess GeV radiation and cosmic ray origin
- Limits to the Cas A Ti Line Flux and Constraints on the Ejecta Energy and the Compact Source
- Chemical Composition of Galactic Cosmic Rays with Space Experiments
- The origin of non-thermal X-ray filaments and TeV emission in young SNRs
- The hard X-ray and Ti-44 emission of Cas A
- High Energy Properties of X-ray Sources observed with BeppoSAX
- Near-infrared [FeII] and H2 line mapping of the supernova remnant IC443 with the IRSF/SIRIUS
- Production of Neutrinos and Secondary Electrons in Cosmic Sources
- G337.2+0.1: a new X-ray supernova remnant?
- Tests of Galactic Cosmic Ray Source Models
- Probing Magnetic Fields in Young Supernova Remnants with IXPE
- A Review of X-ray Observations of Supernova Remnants
- Evidence for thermal X-ray emission from the synchrotron dominated shocks in Tycho's supernova remnant
- Inverse Bremsstrahlung in Shocked Astrophysical Plasmas
- The auto and cross angular power spectrum of the Cas A supernova remnant in radio and X-ray
- Cosmic-Ray proton spectrum below 100 TeV in the local region
- Multi messenger astronomy and CTA: TeV cosmic rays and electrons
- Probing the astrophysical origin of high-energy cosmic-ray electrons with Monte Carlo simulation
- Astrophysical objects observed by the MESSENGER X-ray spectrometer during Mercury flybys
- Nonthermal processes and particle acceleration in supernova remnants
- A Study of Radio Knots within Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
- Back-reaction instabilities of relativistic cosmic rays
- Three Supernova Remnants observed by BeppoSAX
- Nonthermal Bremsstrahlung vs. Synchrotron Radiation: Cas A
- An Asymmetrical Model for High Energy Radiation of Cassiopeia A