Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 933, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP Publishing Ltd
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac704f
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Funding
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States
- Department of Energy in the United States
- Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique in France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Institut National de Physique Nucleaire et de Physique des Particules in France
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana in Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Italy
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in Japan
- High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Japan
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Japan
- K. A. Wallenberg Foundation in Sweden
- Swedish Research Council in Sweden
- Swedish National Space Board in Sweden
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Italy
- Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales in France
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche [ANR-17-CE31-0014]
- NASA
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) [ANR-17-CE31-0014] Funding Source: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)
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This study presents a comprehensive analysis of 311 4FGL catalog sources near the Galactic plane using data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. A total of 56 sources with low-energy spectral breaks are identified, including supernova remnants, gamma-ray binaries, and star-forming regions. This analysis provides insights into the origin of gamma-ray emission and potential new sites of cosmic-ray acceleration.
Cosmic rays are mostly composed of protons accelerated to relativistic speeds. When those protons encounter interstellar material, they produce neutral pions, which in turn decay into gamma-rays. This offers a compelling way to identify the acceleration sites of protons. A characteristic hadronic spectrum, with a low-energy break around 200 MeV, was detected in the gamma-ray spectra of four supernova remnants (SNRs), IC 443, W44, W49B, and W51C, with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This detection provided direct evidence that cosmic-ray protons are (re-)accelerated in SNRs. Here, we present a comprehensive search for low-energy spectral breaks among 311 4FGL catalog sources located within 5 degrees from the Galactic plane. Using 8 yr of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope between 50 MeV and 1 GeV, we find and present the spectral characteristics of 56 sources with a spectral break confirmed by a thorough study of systematic uncertainty. Our population of sources includes 13 SNRs for which the proton-proton interaction is enhanced by the dense target material; the high-mass gamma-ray binary LS I+61 303; the colliding wind binary eta Carinae; and the Cygnus star-forming region. This analysis better constrains the origin of the gamma-ray emission and enlarges our view to potential new cosmic-ray acceleration sites.
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