A connection between star formation activity and cosmic rays in the starburst galaxy M82

被引:205
|
作者
Acciari, V. A. [1 ,2 ,3 ,4 ]
Aliu, E. [2 ,3 ]
Arlen, T. [4 ]
Aune, T. [5 ,6 ]
Bautista, M. [7 ]
Beilicke, M. [8 ]
Benbow, W. [1 ]
Boltuch, D. [2 ,3 ]
Bradbury, S. M. [9 ]
Buckley, J. H. [8 ]
Bugaev, V. [8 ]
Byrum, K. [10 ]
Cannon, A. [11 ]
Celik, O. [4 ]
Cesarini, A. [12 ]
Chow, Y. C. [4 ]
Ciupik, L. [13 ]
Cogan, P. [7 ]
Colin, P. [14 ]
Cui, W. [15 ]
Dickherber, R. [8 ]
Duke, C. [16 ]
Fegan, S. J. [4 ]
Finley, J. P. [15 ]
Finnegan, G. [14 ]
Fortin, P. [17 ]
Fortson, L. [13 ]
Furniss, A. [5 ,6 ]
Galante, N. [1 ]
Gall, D. [15 ]
Gibbs, K. [1 ]
Gillanders, G. H. [12 ]
Godambe, S. [14 ]
Grube, J. [11 ]
Guenette, R. [7 ]
Gyuk, G. [13 ]
Hanna, D. [7 ]
Holder, J. [2 ,3 ]
Horan, D. [18 ]
Hui, C. M. [14 ]
Humensky, T. B. [19 ]
Imran, A. [20 ]
Kaaret, P. [21 ]
Karlsson, N. [13 ]
Kertzman, M. [22 ]
Kieda, D. [14 ]
Kildea, J. [1 ]
Konopelko, A. [23 ]
Krawczynski, H. [8 ]
Krennrich, F. [20 ]
机构
[1] Harvard Smithsonian Ctr Astrophys, Fred Lawrence Whipple Observ, Amado, AZ 85645 USA
[2] Univ Delaware, Bartol Res Inst, Newark, DE 19716 USA
[3] Univ Delaware, Dept Phys & Astron, Newark, DE 19716 USA
[4] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Phys & Astron, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA
[5] Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Inst Particle Phys, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
[6] Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Dept Phys, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
[7] McGill Univ, Dept Phys, Montreal, PQ H3A 2T8, Canada
[8] Washington Univ, Dept Phys, St Louis, MO 63130 USA
[9] Univ Leeds, Sch Phys & Astron, Leeds LS2 9JT, W Yorkshire, England
[10] Argonne Natl Lab, Argonne, IL 60439 USA
[11] Univ Coll Dublin, Sch Phys, Dublin 4, Ireland
[12] Natl Univ Ireland Univ Coll Galway, Sch Phys, Galway, Ireland
[13] Adler Planetarium & Astron Museum, Dept Astron, Chicago, IL 60605 USA
[14] Univ Utah, Dept Phys & Astron, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA
[15] Purdue Univ, Dept Phys, W Lafayette, IN 47907 USA
[16] Grinnell Coll, Dept Phys, Grinnell, IA 50112 USA
[17] Columbia Univ Barnard Coll, Dept Phys & Astron, New York, NY 10027 USA
[18] Ecole Polytech, CNRS, IN2P3, Lab Leprince Ringuet, F-91128 Palaiseau, France
[19] Univ Chicago, Enrico Fermi Inst, Chicago, IL 60637 USA
[20] Iowa State Univ, Dept Phys & Astron, Ames, IA 50011 USA
[21] Univ Iowa, Dept Phys & Astron, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
[22] Depauw Univ, Dept Phys & Astron, Greencastle, IN 46135 USA
[23] Pittsburg State Univ, Dept Phys, Pittsburg, KS 66762 USA
[24] Anderson Univ, Dept Phys, Anderson, IN 46012 USA
[25] Galway Mayo Inst Technol, Dept Life & Phys Sci, Galway, Ireland
[26] Univ Chicago, Kavli Inst Cosmol Phys, Chicago, IL 60637 USA
[27] Cork Inst Technol, Dept Appl Phys & Instrumentat, Cork, Ireland
基金
英国科学技术设施理事会; 爱尔兰科学基金会; 美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
RADIO; EMISSION; CLUSTERS; MODEL;
D O I
10.1038/nature08557
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Although Galactic cosmic rays (protons and nuclei) are widely believed to be mainly accelerated by the winds and supernovae of massive stars, definitive evidence of this origin remains elusive nearly a century after their discovery(1). The active regions of star-burst galaxies have exceptionally high rates of star formation, and their large size-more than 50 times the diameter of similar Galactic regions-uniquely enables reliable calorimetric measurements of their potentially high cosmic-ray density(2). The cosmic rays produced in the formation, life and death of massive stars in these regions are expected to produce diffuse gamma-ray emission through interactions with interstellar gas and radiation. M82, the prototype small starburst galaxy, is predicted(3,4) to be the brightest starburst galaxy in terms of gamma-ray emission. Here we report the detection of >700-GeV gamma-rays from M82. From these data we determine a cosmic-ray density of 250 eV cm(-3) in the starburst core, which is about 500 times the average Galactic density. This links cosmic-ray acceleration to star formation activity, and suggests that supernovae and massive-star winds are the dominant accelerators.
引用
收藏
页码:770 / 772
页数:3
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