Secondary photons from high-energy protons accelerated in hypernovae

作者：Asano Katsuaki^*; Meszaros Peter

来源：Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2008, 677(1): L31-L34.

DOI：10.1086/587963

• cosmic rays
• gamma rays : theory
• radiation mechanisms : nonthermal
• supernovae : general
• X-rays : general

Recent observations show that hypernovae may deposit some fraction of their kinetic energy in mildly relativistic ejecta. In the dissipation process of such ejecta in a stellar wind, cosmic-ray protons can be accelerated up to similar to 10(19) eV. We discuss the TeV to MeV gamma-ray and the X-ray photon signatures of cosmic rays accelerated in hypernovae. Secondary X-ray photons, emitted by electron-positron pairs produced via cascade processes due to high-energy protons, are the most promising targets for X-ray telescopes. Synchrotron photons emitted by protons can appear in the GeV band, requiring nearby (< 40 Mpc) hypernovae for detection with GLAST. In addition, air Cerenkov telescopes may be able to detect regenerated TeV photons emitted by electron-positron pairs generated by CMB attenuation of pi(0)-decay photons.

• 出版日期2008-4-10