Evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in Tycho's supernova remnant

Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been assumed to be the source of cosmic rays (CRs) up to the "knee" of the CR spectrum at 1015 eV, accelerating particles to relativistic energies in their blast waves by the process of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). Since CR nuclei do not radiate e...

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Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado: 2011
Materias:
Acceleration of particles
Cosmic rays
ISM: individual objects (SN 1572, Tycho)
ISM: supernova remnants
Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_20418205_v728_n2PARTII_p_Eriksen
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_20418205_v728_n2PARTII_p_Eriksen
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id paper:paper_20418205_v728_n2PARTII_p_Eriksen
record_format dspace
spelling paper:paper_20418205_v728_n2PARTII_p_Eriksen2023-06-08T16:33:14Z Evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in Tycho's supernova remnant Acceleration of particles Cosmic rays ISM: individual objects (SN 1572, Tycho) ISM: supernova remnants Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been assumed to be the source of cosmic rays (CRs) up to the "knee" of the CR spectrum at 1015 eV, accelerating particles to relativistic energies in their blast waves by the process of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). Since CR nuclei do not radiate efficiently, their presence must be inferred indirectly. Previous theoretical calculations and X-ray observations show that CR acceleration significantly modifies the structure of the SNR and greatly amplifies the interstellar magnetic field. We present new, deep X-ray observations of the remnant of Tycho's supernova (SN 1572, henceforth Tycho), which reveal a previously unknown, strikingly ordered pattern of non-thermal high-emissivity stripes in the projected interior of the remnant, with spacing that corresponds to the gyroradii of 1014-1015 eV protons. Spectroscopy of the stripes shows the plasma to be highly turbulent on the (smaller) scale of the Larmor radii of TeV energy electrons. Models of the shock amplification of magnetic fields produce structure on the scale of the gyroradius of the highest energy CRs present, but they do not predict the highly ordered pattern we observe. We interpret the stripes as evidence for acceleration of particles to near the knee of the CR spectrum in regions of enhanced magnetic turbulence, while the observed highly ordered pattern of these features provides a new challenge to models of DSA. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. 2011 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_20418205_v728_n2PARTII_p_Eriksen http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_20418205_v728_n2PARTII_p_Eriksen
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Acceleration of particles
Cosmic rays
ISM: individual objects (SN 1572, Tycho)
ISM: supernova remnants
spellingShingle Acceleration of particles
Cosmic rays
ISM: individual objects (SN 1572, Tycho)
ISM: supernova remnants
Evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in Tycho's supernova remnant
topic_facet Acceleration of particles
Cosmic rays
ISM: individual objects (SN 1572, Tycho)
ISM: supernova remnants
description Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been assumed to be the source of cosmic rays (CRs) up to the "knee" of the CR spectrum at 1015 eV, accelerating particles to relativistic energies in their blast waves by the process of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). Since CR nuclei do not radiate efficiently, their presence must be inferred indirectly. Previous theoretical calculations and X-ray observations show that CR acceleration significantly modifies the structure of the SNR and greatly amplifies the interstellar magnetic field. We present new, deep X-ray observations of the remnant of Tycho's supernova (SN 1572, henceforth Tycho), which reveal a previously unknown, strikingly ordered pattern of non-thermal high-emissivity stripes in the projected interior of the remnant, with spacing that corresponds to the gyroradii of 1014-1015 eV protons. Spectroscopy of the stripes shows the plasma to be highly turbulent on the (smaller) scale of the Larmor radii of TeV energy electrons. Models of the shock amplification of magnetic fields produce structure on the scale of the gyroradius of the highest energy CRs present, but they do not predict the highly ordered pattern we observe. We interpret the stripes as evidence for acceleration of particles to near the knee of the CR spectrum in regions of enhanced magnetic turbulence, while the observed highly ordered pattern of these features provides a new challenge to models of DSA. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society.
title Evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in Tycho's supernova remnant
title_short Evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in Tycho's supernova remnant
title_full Evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in Tycho's supernova remnant
title_fullStr Evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in Tycho's supernova remnant
title_full_unstemmed Evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in Tycho's supernova remnant
title_sort evidence for particle acceleration to the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum in tycho's supernova remnant
publishDate 2011
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_20418205_v728_n2PARTII_p_Eriksen
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_20418205_v728_n2PARTII_p_Eriksen
_version_ 1768543631323430912

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