Particle Acceleration in the Cygnus Superbubble

HAWC Collaboration

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The Cygnus Cocoon is the first gamma-ray superbubble powered by a massive stellar association, the OB2 association. It was postulated that the combined effects of the stellar winds of all the massive O-type stars of the OB2 association can accelerate the cosmic rays to PeV energy in the Cocoon. The conclusive proof of acceleration to PeV energy in the Cocoon will identify the stellar association as a PeV cosmic-ray accelerator, known as PeVatron. However, the Cocoon has been previously studied only up to 10 TeV. In this contribution, using 1343 days of High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory data, we present the morphological and spectral study of the Cocoon above 1 TeV to beyond 100 TeV. The analysis at higher TeV energies reveals a softer spectrum compared to the GeV gamma-ray observation. This result suggests that the accelerator's efficiency decreases around hundreds of TeV, or after being accelerated, the highest-energy protons escape the region. The study above 10 TeV presented here demonstrates how CR accelerators operate in these extreme energies and how particle transport impacts high-energy emission.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationParticle Acceleration in the Cygnus Superbubble
Volume395
Publication statusPublished - 18 Mar 2022
Event37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021 - Virtual, Berlin, Germany
Duration: 12 Jul 202123 Jul 2021

Publication series

NameProceedings of Science
PublisherSissa Medialab Srl

Conference

Conference37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityVirtual, Berlin
Period12/7/2123/7/21

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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