Very-high-energy γ-Ray Emission from Young Massive Star Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Aharonian F, Benkhali FA, Aschersleben J, Ashkar H, Backes M, Martins VB, Batzofin R, Becherini Y, Berge D, Bernlöhr K, Böttcher M, Bolmont J, de Bony de Lavergne M, Borowska J, Brose R, Brown A, Brun F, Bruno B, Burger-Scheidlin C, Casanova S, Celic J, Cerruti M, Chand T, Chandra S, Chen A, Chibueze J, Chibueze O, Cotter G, Cristofari P, Devin J, Djannati-Ataï A, Djuvsland J, Dmytriiev A, Egberts K, Einecke S, Feijen K, Filipovic M, Fontaine G, Funk S, Gabici S, Gallant YA, Glicenstein JF, Glombitza J, Grolleron G, Haerer L, Heß B, Hinton JA, Hofmann W, Holch TL, Horns D, Huang Z, Jamrozy M, Jankowsky F, Jung-Richardt I, Kasai E, Katarzyński K, Khatoon R, Khélifi B, Kluźniak W, Komin N, Kosack K, Kostunin D, Kundu A, Guedes Lang R, Le Stum S, Lemière A, Lemoine-Goumard M, Lenain JP, Leuschner F, Mackey J, Marandon V, Martí-Devesa G, Marx R, Mehta A, Mitchell A, Moderski R, Moghadam MO, Mohrmann L, Montanari A, Moulin E, de Naurois M, Niemiec J, Ohm S, Olivera-Nieto L, de Ona Wilhelmi E, Ostrowski M, Panny S, Pensec U, Peron G, Pühlhofer G, Quirrenbach A, Ravikularaman S, Regeard M, Reimer A, Reimer O, Ren H, Renaud M, Reville B, Rieger F, Rowell G, Rudak B, Ruiz-Velasco E, Sabri K, Sahakian V, Salzmann H, Santangelo A, Sasaki M, Schäfer J, Schüssler F, Schutte HM, Sol H, Spencer S, Stawarz , Steinmassl S, Steppa C, Streil K, Sushch I, Taylor AM, Terrier R, Tsirou M, Tsuji N, van Eldik C, Vecchi M, Venter C, Vink J, Wagner SJ, White R, Wierzcholska A, Zacharias M, Zdziarski AA, Zech A, Żywucka N (2024)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2024

Journal

Book Volume: 970

Article Number: L21

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad5e67

Abstract

The Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud is known for its high star formation activity. At its center lies the young massive star cluster R136, providing a significant amount of the energy that makes the nebula shine so brightly at many wavelengths. Recently, young massive star clusters have been suggested to also efficiently produce very high-energy cosmic rays, potentially beyond PeV energies. Here, we report the detection of very-high-energy γ-ray emission from the direction of R136 with the High Energy Stereoscopic System, achieved through a multicomponent, likelihood-based modeling of the data. This supports the hypothesis that R136 is indeed a very powerful cosmic-ray accelerator. Moreover, from the same analysis, we provide an updated measurement of the γ-ray emission from 30 Dor C, the only superbubble detected at TeV energies presently. The γ-ray luminosity above 0.5 TeV of both sources is (2-3) × 10³⁵ erg s⁻¹. This exceeds by more than a factor of 2 the luminosity of HESS J1646−458, which is associated with the most massive young star cluster in the Milky Way, Westerlund 1. Furthermore, the γ-ray emission from each source is extended with a significance of >3σ and a Gaussian width of about 30 pc. For 30 Dor C, a connection between the γ-ray emission and the nonthermal X-ray emission appears likely. Different interpretations of the γ-ray signal from R136 are discussed.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg Germany (DE) Université Paris-Sud France (FR) Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Germany (DE) Noordwes-Universiteit / North-West University South Africa (ZA) University of Oxford United Kingdom (GB) Universität Potsdam Germany (DE) Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Germany (DE) Université de Bordeaux France (FR) Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences / Instytut Fizyki Jądrowej im. Henryka Niewodniczańskiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk Poland (PL) Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particules (IN2P3) France (FR) Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe / Institut de recherche sur les lois fondamentales de l'univers (IRFU) France (FR) Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTH) / Laboratory of the Universe and Theories France (FR) Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY Germany (DE) University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) South Africa (ZA) Sorbonne Université France (FR) University of Montpellier / Université Montpellier France (FR) Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences Poland (PL) Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet (LLR) France (FR) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany (DE) Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) Ireland (IE) Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck / University of Innsbruck Austria (AT) University of Namibia (UNAM) Namibia (NA) Jagiellonian University / Uniwersytet Jagielloński (UJ) Poland (PL) University of Western Sydney Australia (AU) Riken Institute of Physical and Chemical Research / 理化学研究所 Japan (JP) Universität Hamburg (UHH) Germany (DE) Yerevan Physics Institute (YerPhI) / Երևանի Ֆիզիկայի Ինստիտուտ Armenia (AM) University of Groningen / Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Netherlands (NL) Université Paris-Saclay France (FR) University of Adelaide Australia (AU) University of Amsterdam Netherlands (NL) Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) / Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu (UMK) Poland (PL)

How to cite

APA:

Aharonian, F., Benkhali, F.A., Aschersleben, J., Ashkar, H., Backes, M., Martins, V.B.,... Żywucka, N. (2024). Very-high-energy γ-Ray Emission from Young Massive Star Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 970(1). https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad5e67

MLA:

Aharonian, F., et al. "Very-high-energy γ-Ray Emission from Young Massive Star Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud." Astrophysical Journal Letters 970.1 (2024).

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