Nonthermal and thermal emission from the supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946

Abstract

Aims: A nonlinear kinetic theory of cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in supernova remnants (SNRs) is employed to investigate the properties of SNR RX J1713.7-3946. Methods: Observations of the nonthermal radio and X-ray emission spectra, as well as the HESS measurements of the very high energy γ-ray emission, are used to constrain the astronomical and CR acceleration parameters of the system. It is argued that RX J1713.7- 3946 is a core collapse supernova (SN) of type II/Ib with a massive progenitor, and it has an age of ≈1600 yr and is at a distance of ≈1 kpc. It is also assumed that the CR injection/acceleration takes place uniformly across the shock surface for this kind of core collapse SNR. Results: The theory gives a consistent description for all the existing observational data, including the nondetection of thermal X-rays and the spatial correlation of the X-ray and γ-ray emission in the remnant. Specifically, it is shown that an efficient production of nuclear CRs, leading to strong shock modification and a strong downstream magnetic field Bd ≈ 140 μG can reproduce in detail the observed synchrotron emission from radio to X-ray frequencies, together with the γ-ray spectral characteristics as observed by the HESS telescopes. Conclusions: The calculations are consistent with RX J1713.7-3946 being an efficient source of nuclear CRs. © 2010 ESO.