2010•AIP conference proceedingsRequires access
Molecular Clouds as a Probe of Cosmic-Ray Acceleration in a Supernova Remnant
Yutaka Fujita, Yutaka Ohira, Shuta Tanaka, Fumio Takahara, Isao Tanihara, H. J. Ong, A. Tamii, Tadafumi Kishimoto, Toshitaka Kajino, S. Kubono, Tatsushi Shima
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Abstract
We study the escape of cosmic‐ray protons accelerated at a supernova remnant (SNR). We are interested in their propagation in the interstellar medium (ISM) after they leave the shock neighborhood where they are accelerated. We first compare the results of a simple model with observations of SNRs; cosmic‐rays escaped from these SNRs seem to be illuminating molecular clouds around the SNRs. In this model, we take the diffusion coefficient for the cosmic‐rays as a free parameter. We found that the coefficient around the SNRs is less than 1% of that away from them. Following this study, we construct a theoretical model, in which the diffusion coefficient is theoretically calculated. We found that the cosmic rays with energies of less than ∼TeV excite Alfvén waves around the SNR on a scale of the SNR itself. Thus, even if the cosmic rays can leave the shock, scattering by the waves prevents them from moving further away from the SNR.