Fermi-LAT and WMAP observations of the Puppis A Supernova Remnant

TL;DR

This paper reports the detection of faint GeV gamma-ray emission from the Puppis A supernova remnant, analyzing its spatial and spectral properties and modeling its broadband emission with leptonic and hadronic scenarios.

Contribution

First detection of GeV gamma-ray emission from Puppis A, with spatial and spectral analysis, and broadband modeling using radio to gamma-ray data including WMAP observations.

Findings

Gamma-ray emission is spatially extended and matches radio/X-ray morphology.

The gamma-ray spectrum is well described by a power law with index 2.1.

Total cosmic ray energy in the remnant is estimated to be (1-5)×10^49 erg.

Abstract

We report the detection of GeV \gamma-ray emission from the supernova remnant Puppis A with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. Puppis A is among the faintest supernova remnants yet detected at GeV energies, with a luminosity of only 2.7x10^34 (D/2.2 kpc)^2 erg/s between 1 and 100 GeV. The \gamma-ray emission from the remnant is spatially extended, with a morphology matching that of the radio and X-ray emission, and is well described by a simple power law with an index of 2.1. We attempt to model the broadband spectral energy distribution, from radio to \gamma-rays, using standard nonthermal emission mechanisms. To constrain the relativistic electron population we use 7 years of WMAP data to extend the radio spectrum up to 93 GHz. Both leptonic and hadronic dominated models can reproduce the nonthermal spectral energy distribution, requiring a total content of cosmic ray (CR) electrons and protons accelerated in Puppis A of at least (1-5)x10^49 erg.