No Arabic abstract
We have analyzed three XMM-Newton observations of the central part of the unidentified TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1804-216. We focus on two X-ray sources 2XMMi J180442.0-214221 (Src 1) and 2XMMi J180432.5-214009 (Src 2), which were suggested to be the possible X-ray counterparts to the TeV source. We discover a 2.93 hr X-ray periodicity from Src 1, with the pulse profile explained with a self-eclipsing pole in an eclipsing polar. Src 2 exhibits a strong Fe emission line (FWHM ~0.3 keV and equivalent width ~0.8 keV) and large X-ray variability on timescales of hours and is probably an intermediate polar. Thus Src 1 and Src 2 are probably two field sources not responsible for the TeV emission. The observations were contaminated by strong straylight from a nearby bright source, and we see no clear extended X-ray emission that can be attributed to the supernova remnant G8.7-0.1, a popular possible association with the TeV source. The other possible association, the pulsar wind nebula candidate PSR J1803-2137, shows little long-term variability, compared with a previous Chandra observation. Many point sources were serendipitously detected, but most of them are probably normal stars. Three new candidate compact object systems (other than Src 1, Src 2 and PSR J1803-2137) are also found. They are far away from the TeV source and are probably also magnetic cataclysmic variables, thus unlikely to be responsible for the TeV emission.
The Galactic TeV $gamma$-ray source HESS$,$J1804$-$216 is currently an unidentified source. In an attempt to unveil its origin, we present here the most detailed study of interstellar gas using data from the Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey, 7 and 12$,$mm wavelength Mopra surveys and Southern Galactic Plane Survey of HI. Several components of atomic and molecular gas are found to overlap HESS$,$J1804$-$216 at various velocities along the line of sight. The CS(1-0) emission clumps confirm the presence of dense gas. Both correlation and anti-correlation between the gas and TeV $gamma$-ray emission have been identified in various gas tracers, enabling several origin scenarios for the TeV $gamma$-ray emission from HESS$,$J1804$-$216. For a hadronic scenario, SNR$,$G8.7$-$0.1 and the progenitor SNR of PSR$,$J1803$-$2137 require cosmic ray (CR) enhancement factors of $mathord{sim} 50$ times the solar neighbour CR flux value to produce the TeV $gamma$-ray emission. Assuming an isotropic diffusion model, CRs from both these SNRs require a slow diffusion coefficient, as found for other TeV SNRs associated with adjacent ISM gas. The morphology of gas located at 3.8$,$kpc (the dispersion measure distance to PSR$,$J1803$-$2137) tends to anti-correlate with features of the TeV emission from HESS$,$J1804$-$216, making the leptonic scenario possible. Both pure hadronic and pure leptonic scenarios thus remain plausible.
Context. The discovery of the unique source HESS J1507-622 in the very high energy (VHE) range (100 GeV-100 TeV) opened new possibilities to study the parent population of ultra-relativistic particles found in astrophysical sources and underlined the possibility of new scenarios/mechanisms crucial for understanding the underlying astrophysical processes in nonthermal sources. Aims. The follow-up X-ray (0.2 - 10 keV) observations on HESS J1507-622 are reported, and possibilities regarding the nature of the VHE source and that of the newly discovered X-ray sources are investigated. Methods.We obtained bservations with the X-ray satellites XMM-Newton and Chandra. Background corrections were applied to the data to search for extended diffuse emission. Since HESS J1507-622 covers a large part of the field of view of these instruments, blank-sky background fields were used. Results. The discovery of several new X-ray sources and a new, faint, extended X-ray source with a flux of ~6e-14 erg cm^-2 s^-1 is reported. Interestingly, a new, variable point-like X-ray source with a flux of ~8e-14 erg cm^-2 s^-1 appeared in the 2011 observation, which was not detected in the previous X-ray observations. Conclusions. The X-ray observations revealed a faint, extended X-ray source that may be a possible counterpart for HESS J1507-622. This source could be an X-ray pulsar wind nebula (PWN) remnant of the larger gamma-ray PWN, which is still bright in IC emission. Several interpretations are proposed to explain the newly detected variable X-ray source.
(abridged) The first unidentified very high energy gamma ray source (TeV J2032+4130) in the Cygnus region has been the subject of intensive search for a counterpart source at other wavelengths. A deep ($approx 50$ ksec) exposure of TeV J2032+4130 with textit{XMM-Newton} has been obtained. The contribution of point sources to the observed X-ray emission from TeV J2032+4130 is subtracted from the data. The point-source subtracted X-ray data are analyzed using blank sky exposures and regions adjacent to the position of TeV J2032+4130 in the field of view covered by the XMM-Newton telescopes to search for diffuse X-ray emission. An extended X-ray emission region with a full width half maximum (FWHM) size of $approx 12$ arc min is found. The centroid of the emission is co-located with the position of TeV J2032+4130.The energy spectrum of the emission coinciding with the position and extension of TeV J2032+4130 can be modeled by a power-law model with a photon index $Gamma=1.5pm0.2_mathrm{stat}pm0.3_mathrm{sys}$ and an energy flux integrated between 2 and 10 keV of $f_{2-10 mathrm{keV}} approx 7cdot 10^{-13}$ ergs/(cm$^2$ s) which is lower than the very high energy gamma-ray flux observed from TeV J2032+4130. We conclude that the faint extended X-ray emission discovered in this observation is the X-ray counterpart of TeV J2032+4130. Formally, it can not be excluded that the extended emission is due to an unrelated population of faint, hot ($k_BTapprox 10$ keV) unresolved point-sources which by chance coincides with the position and extension of TeV J2032+4130. We discuss our findings in the frame of both hadronic and leptonic gamma-ray production scenarios.
Suzaku deep observations have discovered two highly significant nonthermal X-ray sources, Suzaku J1804$-$2142 (Src 1) and Suzaku J1804$-$2140 (Src 2), positionally coincident with the unidentified TeV $gamma$-ray source, HESS J1804$-$216. The X-ray sources are not time variable and show no counterpart in other wavebands, except for the TeV source. Src 1 is unresolved at Suzaku spatial resolution, whereas Src 2 is extended or composed of multiple sources. The X-ray spectra are highly absorbed, hard, and featureless, and are well fitted by absorbed power-law models with best-fit photon indices and absorption columns of $-0.3_{-0.5}^{+0.5}$ and $0.2_{-0.2}^{+2.0}times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ for Src 1, and $1.7_{-1.0}^{+1.4}$ and $1.1_{-0.6}^{+1.0}times 10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$ for Src 2. The measured X-ray absorption to the latter source is significantly larger than the total Galactic neutral hydrogen column in that direction. The unabsorbed 2--10 keV band luminosities are $7.5times 10^{32}(d/{rm 5 kpc})^2$ ergs s$^{-1}$ (Src 1) and $1.3times 10^{33}(d/{rm 5 kpc})^2$ ergs s$^{-1}$ (Src 2), where $d$ is the source distance. Among the handful of TeV sources with known X-ray counterparts, HESS J1804$-$216 has the largest ratio of TeV $gamma$-ray to hard X-ray fluxes. We discuss the nature of the emission and propose the Suzaku sources as plausible counterparts to the TeV source, although further observations are necessary to confirm this.
We report the detection, with the CANGAROO-III imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array, of a very high energy gamma-ray signal from the unidentified gamma-ray source HESS J1614-518, which was discovered in the H.E.S.S. Galactic plane survey. Diffuse gamma-ray emission was detected above 760 GeV at the 8.9 sigma level during an effective exposure of 54 hr from 2008 May to August. The spectrum can be represented by a power-law: 8.2+-2.2_{stat}+-2.5_{sys}x10^{-12}x (E/1TeV)^{-Gamma} cm^{-2} s^{-1} TeV^{-1} with a photon index Gamma of 2.4+-0.3_{stat}+-0.2_{sys}, which is compatible with that of the H.E.S.S. observations. By combining our result with multi-wavelength data, we discuss the possible counterparts for HESS J1614-518 and consider radiation mechanisms based on hadronic and leptonic processes for a supernova remnant, stellar winds from massive stars, and a pulsar wind nebula. Although a leptonic origin from a pulsar wind nebula driven by an unknown pulsar remains possible, hadronic-origin emission from an unknown supernova remnant is preferred.