Search for VHE Gamma-Ray Emission from Young SNe with H.E.S.S

TL;DR

This study uses H.E.S.S. telescope data to search for very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from young supernovae, aiming to identify cosmic-ray acceleration signatures shortly after explosions.

Contribution

It compares H.E.S.S. observations with a supernova catalog to investigate potential gamma-ray signals from young supernovae, a novel approach in this context.

Findings

No significant VHE gamma-ray emission detected from young SNe

Provides constraints on gamma-ray flux from young supernovae

Demonstrates the feasibility of targeted VHE searches for young SNe

Abstract

Supernova (SN) remnants are a well motivated candidate for the acceleration sites of cosmic rays with energies up to the knee (10^15 eV). It has been suggested that also young SNe (~<1 year after the explosion) may be able to accelerate cosmic rays to even higher energies. A smoking gun for cosmic-ray acceleration in young SNe would be the production of very-high-energy (VHE, >10 GeV) gamma-ray radiation. The H.E.S.S. imaging air Cherenkov telescope array is an instrument sensitive to such radiation. In this contribution, the pointing directions of the H.E.S.S. telescopes are compared to a recently published, extragalactic SN catalogue to identify coincidental observations. The results of the data analysis are discussed.