H.E.S.S. deeper observations on SNR RX J0852.0-4622

• Published in: arXiv.org 2012-09
• Main Authors: Manuel Paz Arribas, Schwanke, Ullrich, Sushch, Iurii, Komin, Nukri, Acero, Fabio, Ohm, Stefan, the H E S S Collaboration
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceleration; Cosmic rays; Crab nebula; Emission analysis; Flux; Galactic cosmic rays; High energy astronomy; Mathematical morphology; Milky Way; Morphology; Pulsars; Space telescopes; Stellar winds; Supernova remnants
• ISSN: 2331-8422

Supernova Remnants (SNRs) are believed to be acceleration sites of Galactic cosmic rays. Therefore, deep studies of these objects are instrumental for an understanding of the high energy processes in our Galaxy. RX J0852.0-4622, also known as Vela Junior, is one of the few (4) shell-type SNRs resolved at Very High Energies (VHE; E > 100 GeV). It is one of the largest known VHE sources (~ 1.0 deg radius) and its flux level is comparable to the flux level of the Crab Nebula in the same energy band. These characteristics allow for a detailed analysis, shedding further light on the high-energy processes taking place in the remnant. In this document we present further details on the spatial and spectral morphology derived with an extended data set. The analysis of the spectral morphology of the remnant is compatible with a constant power-law photon index of 2.11 +/- 0.05_stat +/- 0.20_syst from the whole SNR in the energy range from 0.5 TeV to 7 TeV. The analysis of the spatial morphology shows an enhanced emission towards the direction of the pulsar PSR J0855-4644, however as the pulsar is lying on the rim of the SNR, it is difficult to disentangle both contributions. Therefore, assuming a point source, the upper limit on the flux of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) between 1 TeV and 10 TeV, is estimated to be ~ 2% of the Crab Nebula flux in the same energy range.