Lepton Models for TeV Emission from SNR RX J1713.7-3946

TL;DR

This study systematically evaluates four lepton models for TeV emission from SNR RX J1713.7-3946 using MCMC, finding that models based on diffusive shock acceleration and stochastic acceleration fit the data well, with future observations needed to distinguish them.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic MCMC analysis of lepton models for SNR RX J1713.7-3946's TeV emission, comparing different acceleration mechanisms and constraining model parameters.

Findings

Current data constrain model parameters effectively.

Standard parametric models do not fit the observed spectra.

Diffusive shock acceleration and stochastic acceleration models both fit well.

Abstract

(Aims.) SNR RX J1713.7-3946 is perhaps one of the best observed shell-type supernova remnants with emissions dominated by energetic particles accelerated near the shock front. The nature of the TeV emission, however, is an issue still open to investigation. (Methods.) We carry out a systematic study of four lepton models for the TeV emission with the Markov chain Monte Carlo method. (Results.) It is shown that current data already give good constraints on the model parameters. Two commonly used parametric models do not appear to fit the observed radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray spectra. Models motivated by diffusive shock acceleration and by stochastic acceleration by compressive waves in the shock downstream give comparably good fits. The former has a sharper spectral cutoff in the hard X-ray band than the latter. Future observations with the HXMT and NuSTAR may distinguish these two models.