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Arcminute-scale studies of the interstellar gas towards HESS J1804−216: Still an unidentified TeV γ-ray source

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2020

Kirsty Feijen*
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Gavin Rowell
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Sabrina Einecke
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Catherine Braiding
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Michael G. Burton
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, UK
Nigel Maxted
Affiliation:
School of Science, The University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, 2600, Australia Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 2751, Australia
Fabien Voisin
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Graeme F. Wong
Affiliation:
Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 2751, Australia Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, 26 Dick Perry Ave, Kensington 6151, WA, Australia School of Physics, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Kirsty Feijen, E-mail: kirsty.feijen@adelaide.edu.au
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Abstract

The Galactic TeV ${\gamma}$-ray source ${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ is currently an unidentified source. In an attempt to unveil its origin, we present here the most detailed study of interstellar gas using data from the Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey, 7- and 12-mm wavelength Mopra surveys and Southern Galactic Plane Survey of HI. Several components of atomic and molecular gas are found to overlap ${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ at various velocities along the line of sight. The CS(1-0) emission clumps confirm the presence of dense gas. Both correlation and anti-correlation between the gas and TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission have been identified in various gas tracers, enabling several origin scenarios for the TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission from ${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. For a hadronic scenario, ${\mathrm{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and the progenitor supernova remnant (SNR) of ${\mathrm{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ require cosmic ray (CR) enhancement factors of ${\mathord{\sim} 50}$ times the solar neighbour CR flux value to produce the TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission. Assuming an isotropic diffusion model, CRs from both these SNRs require a slow diffusion coefficient, as found for other TeV SNRs associated with adjacent ISM gas. The morphology of gas located at 3.8 kpc (the dispersion measure distance to ${\mathrm{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$) tends to anti-correlate with features of the TeV emission from ${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$, making the leptonic scenario possible. Both pure hadronic and pure leptonic scenarios thus remain plausible.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Australia
Figure 0

Table 1. Pulsar characteristics, including spin period (P), period derivative (${\dot{P}}$), characteristic age (${\tau_c}$), spin-down power (${\dot{E}}$), distance, and TeV luminosity at that distance.

Figure 1

Figure 1. TeV ${\gamma}$-ray significance map of ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$, along with potential counterparts. ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$ are indicated by the blue dashed circles, ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$, ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2149}$, and PSR J1806${-2125}$ are indicated by the white dots and the 1720-MHz OH is indicated by a purple cross. ${\text{FGES\,J}1804.8{-}2144}$ is shown by the yellow dashed circle. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid white contours. Image adapted from H.E.S.S. Collaboration et al. (2018a).

Figure 2

Table 2. Velocity (${\mathrm{v}_{\text{lsr}}}$) integration intervals, with the corresponding distance measures, towards ${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ based on the components derived from the CO(1-0) spectra in Figure 2.

Figure 3

Figure 2. CO(1-0) spectra towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ with a radius of ${0.42^{\circ}}$ centred on ${[l,b]=[8.4,-0.02]}$ (see Figure B.1). Solid black lines and blue lines represent the emission spectra for Mopra ${^{12}\text{CO}(1\mbox{-}0)}$ and ${^{13}\text{CO}(1\mbox{-}0)}$ (scaled by a factor of 2), respectively. Velocity integration intervals for components A through F are shown by the coloured rectangles.

Figure 4

Figure 3. Total column density maps, ${2N_{\text{H}_{2}}+N_{\text{HI}}}$, (${\text{cm}^{-2}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$, for gas components A, B, C, D, and C+D. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7-0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 5

Table 3. CR enhancement values, ${k_{\rm CR}}$ (Equation (7)), and total energy budget of CRs, ${{{\textit{W}}_{{\textit{p}},\textrm{TeV}}}}$ (Equation (5)), for each velocity component defined in Figure 2. Each of these numbers are calculated from the maximum extent of ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ (circle of radius ${0.42^{\circ}}$). The values for total mass and and column density are obtained from the total column density of hydrogen, using the ${^{12}\text{CO}}$ and HI data from Mopra and SGPS, respectively. The near distances were derived using the GRC presented in Figure D.1. The magnetic field is calculated using Equation (11).

Figure 6

Figure 4. Schematic of CRs escaping ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ before interacting with the molecular clouds in component D to create the TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission from ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. The red circle shows the release point of CR protons at a radius of ${R_{\text{c}}\mathord{\sim}5\,\text{pc}}$. The black line shows the physical distance between the cloud and the release point of CRs (${R\mathord{\sim}12\,\text{pc}}$).

Figure 7

Figure 5. Modelled energy spectra of CR protons (Equation (14)) escaping from a potential impulsive accelerator (e.g. ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$), with a total energy of ${{2\times10^{48}}}$ erg in CRs. The model shows different values for the diffusion suppression factor, ${\chi}$, and index of the diffusion coefficient, ${\delta}$. A power law spectrum with an index of ${{\alpha}=2}$ is assumed. The number density is taken to be ${n=160\,\text{cm}^{-3}}$. The distance from the accelerator to the cloud is ${R\mathord{\sim}12\,\text{pc}}$ and ages of the source are taken to be 15 kyr and 28 kyr for the cyan and black curves, respectively. The magenta dashed line represents the CR flux observed at Earth. The red dashed line represents the calculated CR enhancement factor for ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ (${k_{\rm CR}\approx37}$). The green dashed line represents the calculated CR enhancement factor for ${\text{FGES\,J}1804.8{-}2144}$ (${k_{\text{CR}}\approx9}$).

Figure 8

Table 4. Cooling times for synchrotron radiation, ${t_{\mathrm{sync}}}$ (Equation (17)), and Bremsstrahlung, ${t_{\mathrm{brem}}}$ (Equation (18)), towards ${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ for each velocity component defined in Figure 2. The diffusion coefficient, D(E), is calculated using Equation (10) with use of the magnetic field strength, B, within each component. The diffusion time, ${t_{\mathrm{diff}}}$, for particles to cross the 30 pc distance (from ${\mathrm{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ to the nearby cloud in component C), is also shown here.

Figure 9

Figure A.1. TeV ${\gamma}$-ray significance image of ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ (H.E.S.S. Collaboration et al. 2018a), showing the proposed proper motion of ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ (Brisken et al. 2006). The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid white contours, ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ is shown by the blue dashed circle, and the white dots indicate ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ and its birth position.

Figure 10

Figure B.1. ${24\,\upmu}$m infrared image [M Jy sr–1] towards ${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ from the Spitzer GLIMPSE Survey. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid white contours, with the cyan circle showing the extent of ${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. Hii regions with a radius greater than 50 arcmin are indicated by the white circles from WISE (Anderson et al. 2014b).

Figure 11

Table F.1 Molecular lines with each of their rest line frequencies from the 7-mm receiver of the Mopra telescope.

Figure 12

Figure C.1. Position–velocity plot of Mopra ${^{12}\text{CO}(1\mbox{-}0)}$ emission (K) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. The black vertical lines show the longitudinal extent of ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. The black cross indicates the location of ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ at its assumed velocity of ${\mathord{\sim}25\,\,\text{km\,s}^{-1}}$. The 1720-MHz OH maser is shown by the purple cross at its velocity of 36${\,\,\text{km\,s}^{-1}}$. The centre of ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ is shown by the blue dot, whilst the blue line shows its radial extent. The green dashed lines are estimates of the Galactic spiral arms along the line of sight for ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ (from the model in Vallée 2014).

Figure 13

Figure D.1. Model of the galaxy along the line of sight of ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. Parameters used in this model are from Vallée (2014) for each spiral arm shown by the solid coloured lines, Perseus (light blue), Sagittarius (light green), Scutum-Crux (red), and Norma (black). The dashed lines for each spiral arm show their extent. The coloured wedge shows the expected line of sight for ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ from the Sun for the radial velocities (${\text{v}_{\text{lsr}}}$) using the galactic rotation model from Brand & Blitz (1993). The numbers along this wedge show the distance to the source in kiloparsecs (kpc). The spatial coordinates along the axes are given in kpc also.

Figure 14

Figure E.1. Emission spectrum towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. Solid black lines and cyan lines represent the spectrum for Mopra ${^{12}\text{CO}(1\mbox{-}0)}$ and SGPS HI, respectively. ${^{12}\text{CO}}$ is scaled by a factor of 10 for clarity.

Figure 15

Figure F.1. Mosaic of Mopra ${^{12}\text{CO}}$ integrated intensity maps (K${\,\,\text{km\,s}^{-1}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$, for gas components A–F as defined in Figure 2. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 16

Figure F.2. Mosaic of Mopra ${^{13}\text{CO}}$ integrated intensity maps (K${\,\,\text{km\,s}^{-1}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours. The aqua circles in component D indicate Hii regions.

Figure 17

Figure F.3. Mosaic of SGPS HI integrated intensity maps (K${\,\,\text{km\,s}^{-1}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 18

Figure F.4. Total column density maps, ${2N_{\text{H}_{2}}+N_{\text{HI}}}$, (${\text{cm}^{-2}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$, for gas components E and F. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 19

Figure F.5. Ratio of molecular hydrogen (${N_{\text{H}_{2}}}$) and atomic hydrogen (${N_{\text{HI}}}$) column densities towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$, for gas components A–E. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 20

Figure F.6. Top: Total column density map (${\text{cm}^{-2}}$) from the SGPS HI and Mopra ${^{12}\text{CO}}$ emission, along the entire line of sight (${\text{v}_{\text{lsr}}=50}$ to ${150\,\,\text{km\,s}^{-1}}$) of ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. Middle: Planck hydrogen column density. Bottom: Ratio of hydrogen column density as derived from Planck dust opacity and Hii column density from free–free emission. All: The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 21

Figure F.7. CS(1-0) integrated intensity maps (${\text{K\,km\,s}^{-1}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. For components A through F, the ${\text{T}_{\text{rms}}}$ is 2.5, 2.7, 2.8, 3.5, 4.3, and 4.2 K, respectively. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 22

Figure F.8. SiO(1-0, v = 0) integrated intensity maps (${\text{K\,km\,s}^{-1}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. For components A through F, the ${\text{T}_{\text{rms}}}$ is 1.3 K, 1.3 K, 1.4 K, 1.7 K, 2.2 K, and 2.2 K, respectively. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 23

Figure F.9. ${\text{HC}_3}$N(5-4) integrated intensity maps (${\text{K\,km\,s}^{-1}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. For components A through F, the ${\text{T}_{\text{rms}}}$ is 3.6 K, 3.8 K, 3.8 K, 4.9 K, 6.1 K, and 6.1 K, respectively. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7-0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 24

Figure F.10. ${\text{CH}_3}$OH integrated intensity maps (${\text{K\,km\,s}^{-1}}$, uncleaned) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$. For components A through F, the ${\text{T}_{\text{rms}}}$ is 0.8 K, 0.9 K, 0.9 K, 1.1 K, 1.4 K, and 1.4 K, respectively. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours.

Figure 25

Figure F.11. ${\text{NH}_3(1,1)}$ integrated intensity maps (${\text{K\,km\,s}^{-1}}$) towards ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ using HOPS data. The two dashed blue circles indicate ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$ and ${\text{SNR}\,8.3{-}0.1}$. The 1720-MHz OH is indicated by the purple cross and ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$ is indicated by the black dot. The TeV ${\gamma}$-ray emission for 5-10${\sigma}$ is shown by the solid black contours. ${\text{H}_2\text{O}}$ maser positions are shown by the green dots.

Figure 26

Figure G.1. Modelled energy spectra of CR protons (Equation (14)) escaping from the potential impulsive accelerator ${\text{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$, with a total energy of ${{2\times10^{48}}}$ erg in CRs. Various values of diffusion suppression factor, ${\chi}$, and index of the diffusion coefficient, ${\delta}$, are shown here. A power law spectrum with a spectral index of ${{\alpha}=2}$ is assumed. The number density is taken to be ${n=160\,\text{cm}^{-3}}$. The distance from the accelerator to the cloud is ${R\mathord{\sim}12\,\text{pc}}$ and age of the source are taken to be 15 kyr and 28 kyr for the cyan and black curves, respectively. The magenta dashed line represents the CR flux observed at Earth. The red represents the calculated CR enhancement factor for ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ (${k_{\rm CR}\approx37}$). The green represents the calculated CR enhancement factor for ${\text{FGES\,J}1804.8{-}2144}$ (${k_{\rm CR}\approx9}$).

Figure 27

Figure G.2. Modelled energy spectra of CR protons (Equation (14)) escaping from the potential impulsive accelerator (progenitor SNR from ${\text{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$), with a total energy of ${{10}^{{48}}}$ erg in CRs. Various values of diffusion suppression factor, ${\chi}$, and index of the diffusion coefficient, ${\delta}$, are shown here. A power law spectrum with a spectral index of ${{{\alpha}}=2}$ is assumed. The number density is taken to be ${n=325\,\text{cm}^{-3}}$. The distance from the accelerator to the cloud is ${R\mathord{\sim}10\,\text{pc}}$ and age of the source is taken to be 16 kyr for the black curves. The magenta dashed line represents the CR flux observed at Earth. The red represents the calculated CR enhancement factor for ${\text{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$ (${k_{\rm CR}\approx57}$). The green represents the calculated CR enhancement factor for ${\text{FGES\,J}1804.8{-}2144}$ (${k_{\rm CR}\approx14}$).