Radio, X-ray and gamma-ray surface brightness profiles as powerful diagnostic tools for non-thermal SNR shells

TL;DR

This paper models and analyzes the surface brightness profiles of supernova remnants across radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths to develop diagnostic tools for understanding magnetic fields and particle acceleration.

Contribution

It introduces approximate analytical formulas for brightness profiles in SNR shells, aiding quick analysis of non-thermal emission maps.

Findings

Derived formulas for azimuthal and radial brightness profiles.

Identified key factors influencing surface brightness patterns.

Provided tools to interpret non-thermal SNR observations.

Abstract

Distributions of nonthermal surface brightness of supernova remnants (SNRs) contain important information about the properties of magnetic field and acceleration of charged particles. In the present paper, the synchrotron radio, X-ray, and inverse-Compton (IC) gamma-ray maps of adiabatic SNRs in uniform interstellar medium and interstellar magnetic field are modeled and their morphology is analyzed, with particular emphasis to comparison of azimuthal and radial variations of brightness in radio, X-rays, and gamma-rays. Approximate analytical formulae for the azimuthal and radial profiles of the synchrotron radio and X-ray as well as the IC gamma-ray brightness are derived. They reveal the main factors which influence the pattern of the surface brightness distribution due to leptonic emission processes in shells of SNRs and can account for some non-linear effects of acceleration if necessary. These approximations provide observers and theorists with a set of simple diagnostic tools for quick analysis of the non-thermal maps of SNRs.