Investigating the CREDIT History of Supernova Remnants as Cosmic-Ray Sources
Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been suspected to be the primary sources of Galactic cosmic rays. Over the past decades, great strides have been made in the modeling of particle acceleration, magnetic field amplification, and escape from SNRs. Yet while many SNRs have been observed in nonthermal...
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| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaea8 |
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| _version_ | 1823858217644457984 |
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| author | Anton Stall Chun Khai Loo Philipp Mertsch |
| author_facet | Anton Stall Chun Khai Loo Philipp Mertsch |
| author_sort | Anton Stall |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been suspected to be the primary sources of Galactic cosmic rays. Over the past decades, great strides have been made in the modeling of particle acceleration, magnetic field amplification, and escape from SNRs. Yet while many SNRs have been observed in nonthermal emission in radio, X-rays, and gamma rays, there is no evidence for any individual object contributing to the locally observed flux. Here, we propose a particular spectral signature from individual remnants that is due to the energy-dependent escape from SNRs. For young and nearby sources, we predict fluxes enhanced by tens of percent in narrow rigidity intervals; given the percent-level flux uncertainties of contemporary cosmic-ray data, such features should be readily detectable. We model the spatial and temporal distribution of sources and the resulting distribution of fluxes with a Monte Carlo approach. The decision tree that we have trained on simulated data is able to discriminate with very high significance between the null hypothesis of a smooth distribution of sources and the scenario with a stochastic distribution of individual sources. We suggest that this cosmic-ray energy-dependent injection time (CREDIT) scenario be considered in experimental searches to identify individual SNRs as cosmic-ray sources. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-acb0ae9d2fef47b9a7b5c3f743b2bb8e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-acb0ae9d2fef47b9a7b5c3f743b2bb8e2025-02-11T13:32:27ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019802L2110.3847/2041-8213/adaea8Investigating the CREDIT History of Supernova Remnants as Cosmic-Ray SourcesAnton Stall0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6618-9684Chun Khai Loo1https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0880-4865Philipp Mertsch2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2197-3421Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology (TTK), RWTH Aachen University , 52056 Aachen, Germany ; stall@physik.rwth-aachen.de, khai.loo@rwth-aachen.de, pmertsch@physik.rwth-aachen.deInstitute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology (TTK), RWTH Aachen University , 52056 Aachen, Germany ; stall@physik.rwth-aachen.de, khai.loo@rwth-aachen.de, pmertsch@physik.rwth-aachen.deInstitute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology (TTK), RWTH Aachen University , 52056 Aachen, Germany ; stall@physik.rwth-aachen.de, khai.loo@rwth-aachen.de, pmertsch@physik.rwth-aachen.deSupernova remnants (SNRs) have long been suspected to be the primary sources of Galactic cosmic rays. Over the past decades, great strides have been made in the modeling of particle acceleration, magnetic field amplification, and escape from SNRs. Yet while many SNRs have been observed in nonthermal emission in radio, X-rays, and gamma rays, there is no evidence for any individual object contributing to the locally observed flux. Here, we propose a particular spectral signature from individual remnants that is due to the energy-dependent escape from SNRs. For young and nearby sources, we predict fluxes enhanced by tens of percent in narrow rigidity intervals; given the percent-level flux uncertainties of contemporary cosmic-ray data, such features should be readily detectable. We model the spatial and temporal distribution of sources and the resulting distribution of fluxes with a Monte Carlo approach. The decision tree that we have trained on simulated data is able to discriminate with very high significance between the null hypothesis of a smooth distribution of sources and the scenario with a stochastic distribution of individual sources. We suggest that this cosmic-ray energy-dependent injection time (CREDIT) scenario be considered in experimental searches to identify individual SNRs as cosmic-ray sources.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaea8Cosmic ray sourcesGalactic cosmic raysCosmic raysSupernova remnantsthe Milky WayCosmic ray detectors |
| spellingShingle | Anton Stall Chun Khai Loo Philipp Mertsch Investigating the CREDIT History of Supernova Remnants as Cosmic-Ray Sources The Astrophysical Journal Letters Cosmic ray sources Galactic cosmic rays Cosmic rays Supernova remnants the Milky Way Cosmic ray detectors |
| title | Investigating the CREDIT History of Supernova Remnants as Cosmic-Ray Sources |
| title_full | Investigating the CREDIT History of Supernova Remnants as Cosmic-Ray Sources |
| title_fullStr | Investigating the CREDIT History of Supernova Remnants as Cosmic-Ray Sources |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating the CREDIT History of Supernova Remnants as Cosmic-Ray Sources |
| title_short | Investigating the CREDIT History of Supernova Remnants as Cosmic-Ray Sources |
| title_sort | investigating the credit history of supernova remnants as cosmic ray sources |
| topic | Cosmic ray sources Galactic cosmic rays Cosmic rays Supernova remnants the Milky Way Cosmic ray detectors |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaea8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT antonstall investigatingthecredithistoryofsupernovaremnantsascosmicraysources AT chunkhailoo investigatingthecredithistoryofsupernovaremnantsascosmicraysources AT philippmertsch investigatingthecredithistoryofsupernovaremnantsascosmicraysources |