Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of the Supernova Remnant G8.7-0.1

TL;DR

This paper analyzes Fermi LAT gamma-ray data of SNR G8.7-0.1, revealing spatial and spectral characteristics that support cosmic ray acceleration and interaction with molecular clouds, and compares GeV and TeV emissions to understand particle diffusion.

Contribution

It provides a detailed spatial and spectral analysis of gamma-ray emission from G8.7-0.1, linking it to cosmic ray acceleration and molecular cloud interactions, and constrains particle diffusion properties.

Findings

Gamma-ray emission is spatially extended and coincides with the SNR and molecular clouds.

The gamma-ray spectrum shows a broken power-law with a break at 2.4 GeV.

The GeV and TeV emissions have different morphologies and spectral behaviors.

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the GeV gamma-ray emission toward the supernova remnant (SNR) G8.7-0.1 with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the \emph{Fermi} Gamma-ray Space Telescope. An investigation of the relationship among G8.7-0.1 and the TeV unidentified source HESS J1804-216 provides us with an important clue on diffusion process of cosmic rays if particle acceleration operates in the SNR. The GeV gamma-ray emission is extended with most of the emission in positional coincidence with the SNR G8.7-0.1 and a lesser part located outside the western boundary of G8.7-0.1. The region of the gamma-ray emission overlaps spatially-connected molecular clouds, implying a physical connection for the gamma-ray structure. The total gamma-ray spectrum measured with LAT from 200 MeV--100 GeV can be described by a broken power-law function with a break of 2.4 $\pm$ 0.6 (stat) $\pm$ 1.2 (sys) GeV, and photon indices of 2.10 $\pm$ 0.06 (stat) $\pm$ 0.10 (sys) below the break and 2.70 $\pm$ 0.12 (stat) $\pm$ 0.14 (sys) above the break. Given the spatial association among the gamma rays, the radio emission of G8.7$-$0.1, and the molecular clouds, the decay of $\pi^{0}$s produced by particles accelerated in the SNR and hitting the molecular clouds naturally explains the GeV gamma-ray spectrum. We also find that the GeV morphology is not well represented by the TeV emission from HESS J1804$-$216 and that the spectrum in the GeV band is not consistent with the extrapolation of the TeV gamma-ray spectrum. The spectral index of the TeV emission is consistent with the particle spectral index predicted by a theory that assumes energy-dependent diffusion of particles accelerated in an SNR. We discuss the possibility that the TeV spectrum originates from the interaction of particles accelerated in G8.7$-$0.1 with molecular clouds, and we constrain the diffusion coefficient of the particles.