Search for New Cosmic-Ray Acceleration Sites within the 4FGL Catalog Galactic Plane Sources

Abdollahi S, Acero F, Ackermann M, Baldini L, Ballet J, Barbiellini G, Bastieri D, Bellazzini R, Berenji B, Berretta A, Bissaldi E, Blandford RD, Bonino R, Bruel P, Buson S, Cameron RA, Caputo R, Caraveo PA, Castro D, Chiaro G, Cibrario N, Ciprini S, Coronado-Blazquez J, Crnogorcevic M, Cutini S, D'Ammando F, De Gaetano S, Di Lalla N, Dirirsa F, Di Venere L, Dominguez A, Fegan SJ, Fiori A, Fleischhack H, Franckowiak A, Fukazawa Y, Fusco P, Gammaldi , Gargano F, Gasparrini D, Giacchino F, Giglietto N, Giordano F, Giroletti M, Glanzman T, Green D, Grenier IA, Grondin MH, Guiriec S, Gustafsson M, Harding AK, Hays E, Hewitt JW, Horan D, Hou X, Johannesson G, Kayanoki T, Kerr M, Kuss M, Larsson S, Latronico L, Lemoine-Goumard M, Li J, Longo F, Loparco F, Lubrano P, Maldera S, Malyshev D, Manfreda A, Marti-Devesa G, Mazziotta MN, Mereu , Michelson PF, Mirabal N, Mitthumsiri W, Mizuno T, Monzani ME, Morselli A, Moskalenko I, Nuss E, Omodei N, Orienti M, Orlando E, Ormes JF, Paneque D, Pei Z, Persic M, Pesce-Rollins M, Pillera R, Poon H, Porter TA, Principe G, Raino S, Rando R, Rani B, Razzano M, Razzaque S, Reimer A, Reimer O, Reposeur T, Sanchez-Conde M, Parkinson PMS, Scotton L, Serini D, Sgro C, Siskind EJ, Spandre G, Spinelli P, Sueoka K, Suson DJ, Tajima H, Tak D, Thayer JB, Torres DF, Troja E, Valverde J, Wadiasingh Z, Wood K, Zaharijas G (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Book Volume: 933

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac704f

Abstract

Cosmic rays are mostly composed of protons accelerated to relativistic speeds. When those protons encounter interstellar material, they produce neutral pions, which in turn decay into gamma-rays. This offers a compelling way to identify the acceleration sites of protons. A characteristic hadronic spectrum, with a low-energy break around 200 MeV, was detected in the gamma-ray spectra of four supernova remnants (SNRs), IC 443, W44, W49B, and W51C, with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This detection provided direct evidence that cosmic-ray protons are (re-)accelerated in SNRs. Here, we present a comprehensive search for low-energy spectral breaks among 311 4FGL catalog sources located within 5 degrees from the Galactic plane. Using 8 yr of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope between 50 MeV and 1 GeV, we find and present the spectral characteristics of 56 sources with a spectral break confirmed by a thorough study of systematic uncertainty. Our population of sources includes 13 SNRs for which the proton-proton interaction is enhanced by the dense target material; the high-mass gamma-ray binary LS I+61 303; the colliding wind binary eta Carinae; and the Cygnus star-forming region. This analysis better constrains the origin of the gamma-ray emission and enlarges our view to potential new cosmic-ray acceleration sites.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées France (FR) École Polytechnique - Université Paris-Saclay France (FR) Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY Germany (DE) University of Pisa / Università di Pisa (UniPi) Italy (IT) National Institute for Nuclear Physics / Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Italy (IT) Università degli Studi di Perugia Italy (IT) University of Bari Aldo Moro / Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro Italy (IT) Stanford University United States (USA) (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) United States (USA) (US) University of Maryland United States (USA) (US) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI) / የኢትዮጵያ ስፔስ ሳይንስ እና ቴክኖሎጂ ተቋም Ethiopia (ET) University of North Florida (UNF) United States (USA) (US) Hiroshima University Japan (JP) Purdue University Northwest / Purdue University Calumet United States (USA) (US) Spanish National Research Council / Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Spain (ES) Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut, MPP) / Max Planck Institute for Physics Germany (DE) Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particules (IN2P3) France (FR) Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Germany (DE) Los Alamos National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) / 中国科学院 China (CN) Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck / University of Innsbruck Austria (AT) Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) Spain (ES) NYCB Real-Time Computing, Inc. United States (USA) (US) Praxis, Inc. United States (USA) (US) California State University, Los Angeles United States (USA) (US) University of Iceland (UI) / Háskóli Íslands Iceland (IS) U.S. Naval Research Laboratory United States (USA) (US) Royal Institute of Technology / Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) Sweden (SE) University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) China (CN) University of California Santa Cruz United States (USA) (US) University of Montpellier / Université Montpellier France (FR) University of Nova Gorica / Univerza v Novi Gorici Slovenia (SI) Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Germany (DE) Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Spain (ES) Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) Germany (DE) Mahidol University / มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล Thailand (TH) University of Denver United States (USA) (US) University of Padua / Universita degli Studi di Padova Italy (IT) University of Johannesburg South Africa (ZA)

How to cite

APA:

Abdollahi, S., Acero, F., Ackermann, M., Baldini, L., Ballet, J., Barbiellini, G.,... Zaharijas, G. (2022). Search for New Cosmic-Ray Acceleration Sites within the 4FGL Catalog Galactic Plane Sources. Astrophysical Journal, 933(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac704f

MLA:

Abdollahi, S., et al. "Search for New Cosmic-Ray Acceleration Sites within the 4FGL Catalog Galactic Plane Sources." Astrophysical Journal 933.2 (2022).

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