An updated view and perspectives on high-energy gamma-ray emission from SGR J1935+2154 and its environment

TL;DR

This paper updates models of high-energy gamma-ray emission from SGR J1935+2154 using new H.E.S.S. observations and the GALPROP code, providing insights into cosmic ray contributions and gamma-ray emission mechanisms.

Contribution

It extends previous models with new observational data and a more general GALPROP-based approach, offering updated constraints on gamma-ray emission from SGR J1935+2154.

Findings

First high-energy gamma-ray observations of an SGR in a flaring state.

Upper limits on sustained and transient gamma-ray emission established.

Cosmic ray gamma rays from SGR J1935+2154 may influence Galactic gamma-ray distribution.

Abstract

SGR J1935+2154 was discovered in 2016 and is currently one of the most burst-active Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGR), having emitted several X-ray bursts in recent years. In one of our previous articles, we investigated the contribution to high-energy and very high-energy gamma-ray emission (VHE, $E > 100$ GeV) due to cosmic-ray acceleration of SNR G57.2+0.8 hosting SGR J1935+2154 using the GALPROP propagation code. However, follow-up observations of SGR 1935+2154 were made for 2 hours on April 28, 2020, using the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). The observations coincide with X-ray bursts detected by INTEGRAL and Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM). These are the first high-energy gamma-ray observations of an SGR in a flaring state, and upper limits on sustained and transient emission have been derived. Now that new H.E.S.S. observations have been made, it is interesting to update our model with respect to these new upper limits. We extend our previous results to a more general situation using the new version of GALPROP. We obtain a hadronic model that confirms the results discussed by H.E.S.S.. This leads to an optimistic prospect that cosmic ray gamma rays from SGR J1935+2154 can contribute to the overall gamma energy density distribution and in particular to the diffusion gamma rays from the Galactic center.