Multiband Nonthermal Radiative Properties of HESS J1813-178

TL;DR

This paper models the multiwavelength nonthermal emission from the composite supernova remnant G12.8-0.0, showing that the observed gamma-rays mainly originate from the pulsar wind nebula, with the shell's contribution depending on ambient density.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive theoretical model coupling the dynamical and radiative evolution of the SNR and PWN, explaining the origin of observed gamma-ray emissions.

Findings

Radio emission from the shell matches synchrotron radiation from accelerated electrons.

Gamma-ray emission from the shell is negligible at typical ISM densities but increases with higher ambient density.

Gamma-rays from the nebula can explain the observed VHE gamma-ray flux.

Abstract

The source HESS J1813-178 was detected in the survey of the inner Galaxy in TeV gamma-rays, and a SNR G12.8-0.0 was identified in the radio band to be associated with it. The PWN embedded in the SNR is powered by an energetic pulsar PSR J1813-1749, which was recently discovered. Whether the TeV gamma-rays originate from the SNR shell or the PWN is uncertain now. We investigate theoretically the multiwavelength nonthermal radiation from the composite SNR G12.8-0.0. The emission from the particles accelerated in the SNR shell is calculated based on a semianalytical method to the nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration mechanism. In the model, the magnetic field is self-generated via resonant streaming instability, and the dynamical reaction of the field on the shock is taken into account. Based on a model which couples the dynamical and radiative evolution of a PWN in a non-radiative SNR, the dynamics and the multi-band emission of the PWN are investigated. The particles are injected with a spectrum of a relativistic Maxwellian plus a power law high-energy tail with an index of -2.5. Our results indicate that the radio emission from the shell can be well reproduced as synchrotron radiation of the electrons accelerated by the SNR shock; with an ISM number density of 1.4 cm^{-3} for the remnant, the gamma-ray emission from the SNR shell is insignificant, and the observed X-rays and VHE gamma-rays from the source are consistent with the emission produced by electrons/positrons injected in the PWN via synchrotron radiation and IC scattering, respectively; the resulting gamma-ray flux for the shell is comparable to the detected one only with a relatively larger density of about 2.8 cm^{-3}. The VHE gamma-rays of HESS J1813-178 can be naturally explained to mainly originate from the nebula although the contribution of the SNR shell becomes significant with a denser ambient medium.