No Arabic abstract
The supernova remnant (SNR) G338.3-0.0 spatially correlates with HESS J1640-465, which is considered the most luminous gamma-ray source associated with a SNR in our Galaxy. The X-ray pulsar PSR J1640-4631 has been recently discovered within the SNR shell, which could favor a leptonic origin for the detected very-high energy (VHE) emission. In spite of this, the origin of the VHE radiation from HESS J1640-465 has not been unambiguously clarified so far. Indeed, a hadronic explanation cannot be ruled out by current observations. On the basis of atomic (HI) and molecular (12^CO) archival data, we determine, for the first time, the total ambient density of protons in the region of the G338.3-0.0/HESS J1640-465 system, a critical parameter for understanding the emission mechanisms at very high energies. The value obtained is in the 100-130 cm^-3 range. Besides this, we developed a new hadronic model to describe the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the HESS J1640-465 source, which includes the latest total gamma-ray cross-section for proton-proton collisions available in the literature. By using the assessed ambient proton density, we found that the total energy in accelerated protons required to fit the data is 5.4^{+4.7}_{-2.3} x 10^49 erg and 1.6^{+1.4}_{-0.7} x 10^50 erg for a source distance of 8.5 and 13 kpc, respectively. The case where the source distance is 8.5 kpc agrees with the typical scenario in which the energy released is on the order of 10^51 erg and ~10% of that energy is transferred to the accelerated protons, whereas the case corresponding to a source distance of 13 kpc requires either a higher value of the energy released in the explosion or a larger energy fraction to accelerate protons.
We present a detailed analysis of the interstellar medium towards the TeV $gamma$-ray sources HESS J1640$-$465 and HESS J1641$-$463 using results from the Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey and from a Mopra 7 mm-wavelength study. The $gamma$-ray sources are positionally coincident with two supernova remnants G338.3$-$0.0 and G338.5+0.1 respectively. A bright complex of HII regions connect the two SNRs and TeV objects. Observations in the CO(1-0) transition lines reveal substantial amounts of diffuse gas positionally coincident with the $gamma$-ray sources at multiple velocities along the line of sight, while 7 mm observations in CS, SiO, HC$_{3}$N and CH$_{3}$OH transition lines reveal regions of dense, shocked gas. Archival HI data from the Southern Galactic Plane Survey was used to account for the diffuse atomic gas. Physical parameters of the gas towards the TeV sources were calculated from the data. We find that for a hadronic origin for the $gamma$-ray emission, the cosmic-ray enhancement rates are $sim 10^{3}$ and $10^{2}$ times the local solar value for HESS J1640$-$465 and HESS J1641$-$463 respectively.
The results of follow-up observations of the TeV gamma-ray source HESSJ 1640-465 from 2004 to 2011 with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) are reported in this work. The spectrum is well described by an exponential cut-off power law with photon index Gamma=2.11 +/- 0.09_stat +/- 0.10_sys, and a cut-off energy of E_c = (6.0 +2.0 -1.2) TeV. The TeV emission is significantly extended and overlaps with the north-western part of the shell of the SNR G338.3-0.0. The new H.E.S.S. results, a re-analysis of archival XMM-Newton data, and multi-wavelength observations suggest that a significant part of the gamma-ray emission from HESS J1640-465 originates in the SNR shell. In a hadronic scenario, as suggested by the smooth connection of the GeV and TeV spectra, the product of total proton energy and mean target density could be as high as W_p n_H ~ 4 x 10^52 (d/10kpc)^2 erg cm^-3.
We report the discovery of a 206 ms pulsar associated with the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1640-465 using the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) X-ray observatory. PSR J1640-4631 lies within the shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) G338.3-0.0, and coincides with an X-ray point source and putative pulsar wind nebula (PWN) previously identified in XMM-Newton and Chandra images. It is spinning down rapidly with period derivative Pdot = 9.758(44)E-13, yielding a spin-down luminosity Edot = 4.4E36 erg s-1, characteristic age = P/2Pdot = 3350 yr, and surface dipole magnetic field strength Bs = 1.4E13 G. For the measured distance of 12 kpc to G338.3-0.0, the 0.2 - 10 TeV luminosity of HESS J1640-465 is 6% of the pulsars present Edot. The Fermi source 1FHL J1640.5-4634 is marginally coincident with PSR J1640-4631, but we find no gamma-ray pulsations in a search using 5 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data. The pulsar energetics support an evolutionary PWN model for the broad-band spectrum of HESS J1640-465, provided that the pulsars braking index is approximately 2, and that its initial spin period was Po ~ 15 ms.
The bright TeV source HESS J1640-465 is positionally coincident with the young SNR G338.3-0.0, and the nearby HESS J1641-463 with TeV gamma-ray emission seems to be closely associated with it. Based on the nonlinear diffusion shock acceleration (NLDSA) model, we explore the emission from these two TeV sources, the particle diffusion is assumed to be different inside and outside the absorbing boundary of the particles accelerated in the SNR shock. The results indicate that (1) the GeV to TeV emission from the region of the HESS J1640-465 is produced as a result of the particle acceleration inside the SNR G338.3-0.0; and (2) the runaway cosmic-ray particles outside the SNR are interacting with nearby dense molecular cloud (MC) at the region of the HESS J1641-463, corresponding $pi^0$ decay gamma-ray in proton-proton collision contribute to the TeV emission from the HESS J1641-463. Also we investigate the possible X-ray emission in molecular cloud from synchrotron procedure by secondary $e^pm$ produced through escaped protons interaction with the MC.
We report on gamma-ray analysis of the region containing the bright TeV source HESS J1640-465 and the close-by TeV source HESS J1641-463 using 64 months of observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Previously only one GeV source was reported in this region and was associated with HESS J1640-465. With an increased dataset and the improved sensitivity afforded by the reprocessed data (P7REP) of the LAT, we now report the detection, morphological study and spectral analysis of two distinct sources above 100 MeV. The softest emission in this region comes from the TeV source HESS J1641-463 which is well fitted with a power law of index Gamma = 2.47 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.06 and presents no significant gamma-ray signal above 10 GeV, which contrasts with its hard spectrum at TeV energies. The Fermi-LAT spectrum of the second TeV source, HESS J1640-465 is well described by a power-law shape of index Gamma = 1.99 +/- 0.04 +/- 0.07 that links up naturally with the spectral data points obtained by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). These new results provide new constraints concerning the identification of these two puzzling gamma-ray sources.