No Arabic abstract
There are only few very-high-energy sources in our Galaxy which might accelerate particles up to the knee of the cosmic-ray spectrum. To understand the mechanisms of particle acceleration in these PeVatron candidates, textit{Fermi}-LAT and H.E.S.S. observations are essential to characterize their $gamma$-ray emission. HESS J1640$-$465 and the PeVatron candidate HESS J1641$-$463 are two neighboring (ang[astroang]{0.25}) $gamma$-ray sources, spatially coincident with the radio supernova remnants (SNRs) G338.3$-$0.0 and G338.5+0.1. Detected both by H.E.S.S. and textit{Fermi}-LAT, we present here a morphological and spectral analysis of these two sources using 8 years of textit{Fermi}-LAT data between 200 si{megaelectronvolt} and 1 si{teraelectronvolt} with multi-wavelength observations to assess their nature. The morphology of HESS J1640$-$465 is described by a 2D Gaussian ($sigma=$ ang[astroang]{0.053} $pm$ ang[astroang]{0.011}$_{stat}$ $ pm$ ang[astroang]{0.03}$_{syst}$) and its spectrum is modeled by a power-law with a spectral index $Gamma = 1.8pm0.1_{rm stat}pm0.2_{rm syst}$. HESS J1641$-$463 is detected as a point-like source and its GeV emission is described by a logarithmic-parabola spectrum with $alpha = 2.7 pm 0.1_ {rm stat} pm 0.2_ {rm syst} $ and significant curvature of $beta = 0.11 pm 0.03_ {rm stat} pm 0.05_ {rm syst} $. Radio and X-ray flux upper limits were derived. We investigated scenarios to explain their emission, namely the emission from accelerated particles within the SNRs spatially coincident with each source, molecular clouds illuminated by cosmic rays from the close-by SNRs, and a pulsar/PWN origin. Our new emph{Fermi}-LAT results and the radio and flux X-ray upper limits pose severe constraints on some of these models.
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.
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 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.
A new TeV source, HESS J1641-463, has been serendipitously discovered in the Galactic plane by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) at a significance level of 8.6 standard deviations. The observations of HESS J1641-463 were performed between 2004 and 2011 and the source has a moderate flux level of 1.7% of the Crab Nebula flux at E > 1 TeV. HESS J1641-463 has a rather hard photon index of 1.99 +- 0.13_stat +- 0.20_sys. HESS J1641-463 is positionally coincident with the radio supernova remnant SNR G338.5+0.1, but no clear X-ray counterpart has been found in archival Chandra observations of the region. Different possible VHE production scenarios will be discussed in this contribution.
This letter reports the discovery of a remarkably hard spectrum source, HESS J1641-463, by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) in the very-high energy (VHE) domain. HESS J1641-463 remained unnoticed by the usual analysis techniques due to confusion with the bright nearby source HESS J1640-465. It emerged at a significance level of 8.5 standard deviations after restricting the analysis to events with energies above 4 TeV. It shows a moderate flux level of F(E > 1 TeV) = (3.64 +/- 0.44_stat +/- 0.73_sys) x 10^-13 cm^-2s-1, corresponding to 1.8% of the Crab Nebula flux above the same energy, and a hard spectrum with a photon index of Gamma = 2.07 +/- 0.11_stat +/- 0.20_sys. It is a point-like source, although an extension up to Gaussian width of sigma = 3 arcmin cannot be discounted due to uncertainties in the H.E.S.S. PSF. The VHE gamma-ray flux of HESS J1641-463 is found to be constant over the observed period when checking time binnings from year-by-year to the 28 min exposures timescales. HESS J1641-463 is positionally coincident with the radio supernova remnant SNR G338.5+0.1. No X-ray candidate stands out as a clear association, however Chandra and XMM-Newton data reveal some potential weak counterparts. Various VHE gamma-ray production scenarios are discussed. If the emission from HESS J1641-463 is produced by cosmic ray protons colliding with the ambient gas, then their spectrum must extend close to 1 PeV. This object may represent a source population contributing significantly to the galactic cosmic ray flux around the knee.