Production of secondary particles in heavy nuclei interactions in supernova remnants

TL;DR

This paper investigates how heavy nuclei interactions in supernova remnants produce gamma rays, neutrinos, and electrons, emphasizing the importance of considering heavy elements for accurate spectral predictions.

Contribution

It introduces Monte-Carlo simulations for particle production in heavy nuclei collisions, providing detailed cross sections and spectra for various projectile-target pairs.

Findings

Heavy nuclei significantly alter particle spectra shapes.

Different projectile-target combinations produce distinct spectral features.

Results improve modeling accuracy for supernova remnant emissions.

Abstract

Depending on their type, supernova remnants may have ejecta material with high abundance of heavy elements such as carbon or oxygen. In addition, core-collapse supernovae explode in the wind material of their progenitor star that may also have a high abundance of heavy elements. Hadronic collisions in these enriched media spawn the production of gamma rays, neutrinos, and secondary electrons with spectra that cannot be scaled from those calculated for pp collisions, potentially leading to erroneous results. We used Monte-Carlo event generators to calculate the differential production rate of particles such as gamma rays, neutrinos, and secondary electrons for H, He, C, and O nuclei as projectiles and as target material. The cross sections and the multiplicity spectra are separately computed for each of the 16 combinations of projectile and target. We describe characteristic effects of heavy nuclei in the shape and normalization of the spectra of various particles produced.