English

Radioactivity and Electron Acceleration in Supernova Remnants

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2013-05-29 v2

Abstract

We argue that the decays of radioactive nuclei related to 44^{44}Ti and 56^{56}Ni ejected during supernova explosions can provide a vast pool of mildly relativistic positrons and electrons which are further accelerated to ultrarelativistic energies by reverse and forward shocks. This interesting link between two independent processes - the radioactivity and the particle acceleration - can be a clue for solution of the well known theoretical problem of electron injection in supernova remnants. In the case of the brightest radio source Cas A, we demonstrate that the radioactivity can supply adequate number of energetic electrons and positrons for interpretation of observational data provided that they are stochastically pre-accelerated in the upstream regions of the forward and reverse shocks.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1011.4775,
  title  = {Radioactivity and Electron Acceleration in Supernova Remnants},
  author = {V. N. Zirakashvili and F. A. Aharonian},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.4775},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

6 pages, 1 figure, revised version accepted to Phys.Rev. D

R2 v1 2026-06-21T16:47:08.395Z