6533b856fe1ef96bd12b31e9
RESEARCH PRODUCT
The supernova remnant SN 1006 as a Galactic particle accelerator
Roberta GiuffridaMarco MiceliDamiano CaprioliAnne DecourchelleJacco VinkSalvatore OrlandoFabrizio BocchinoEmanuele GrecoGiovanni Peressubject
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)Astrophysical plasmasSHARPHorizon 2020MultidisciplinaryFOS: Physical sciencesGeneral Physics and Astronomyshock wavesGeneral ChemistryGeneral Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular BiologyHigh-energy astrophysicsSettore FIS/05 - Astronomia E AstrofisicaEuropean Union (EU)Particle astrophysics[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomenacosmic raydescription
The origin of cosmic rays is a pivotal open issue of high-energy astrophysics. Supernova remnants are strong candidates to be the Galactic factory of cosmic rays, their blast waves being powerful particle accelerators. However, supernova remnants can power the observed flux of cosmic rays only if they transfer a significant fraction of their kinetic energy to the accelerated particles, but conclusive evidence for such efficient acceleration is still lacking. In this scenario, the shock energy channeled to cosmic rays should induce a higher post-shock density than that predicted by standard shock conditions. Here we show this effect, and probe its dependence on the orientation of the ambient magnetic field, by analyzing deep X-ray observations of the Galactic remnant of SN 1006. By comparing our results with state-of-the-art models, we conclude that SN 1006 is an efficient source of cosmic rays and obtain an observational support for the quasi-parallel acceleration mechanism.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-08-30 | Nature Communications |