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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik
T 25: Gammaastronomie 2
T 25.5: Talk
Monday, March 24, 2014, 17:45–18:00, P2
The connection between hadronic gamma-ray emission and ionization from SNRs: ionization profiles of molecular clouds — •Florian Schuppan1, Christian Röken2, and Julia Becker Tjus1 — 1Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Fakultät für Physik & Astronomie, Theoretische Physik IV, 44780 Bochum, Germany — 2Universität Regensburg, Fakultät für Mathematik, 93040 Regensburg, Germany
Supernova remnants are a main candidate for the acceleration of cosmic rays. Particularly those that are associated with a molecular cloud are often bright in gamma rays. Whether those gamma rays are generated by bremsstrahlung or inverse Compton scattering of cosmic ray electrons, or by cosmic ray protons interacting with hydrogen in the clouds is usually not known. The detection of cosmic ray-induced ionization signatures in spatial coincidence with the gamma ray signature can help to unambiguously identify supernova remnants as sources of cosmic rays.
The transport equation for the propagation of cosmic ray protons into a molecular cloud, including the relevant momentum loss processes, is solved analytically. The solution is derived implicitly for arbitrary source functions, and can therefore be used for a variety of supernova remnants. The ionization rate induced by cosmic rays, as a function of the penetration depth, is derived from the position-dependent proton spectrum, and, for available X-ray data, compared to X-ray-induced ionization profiles.