The RXTE Hard X-Ray Spectrum of Cassiopeia A

Session 55 - Supernova Remnants.
Oral session, Tuesday, January 14
Harbour A,

[55.06] The RXTE Hard X-Ray Spectrum of Cassiopeia A

G. E. Allen (NRC, NASA/GSFC), E. V. Gotthelf (USRA, NASA/GSFC), K. Jahoda (NASA/GSFC), J. W. Keohane (U.Minn, NASA/GSFC), R. E. Lingenfelter, R. E. Rothschild (UCSD)

The Cassiopeia A supernova remnant (SNR) is the youngest SNR observed in our Galaxy and is the brightest Galactic shell-type SNR at radio and X-ray energies. The hard X-ray spectrum obtained from the PCA and HEXTE instruments on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite confirms the existence of a hard X-ray component that extends to tens of keV. Preliminary results suggest that the hard X-ray emission may be nonthermal. If, for example, the hard X rays are produced by synchrotron emission from electrons with energies in excess of 10^13 eV, this RXTE observation of Cassiopeia A provides evidence to support the hypothesis that Galactic cosmic rays are accelerated in the shocks of SNRs. A description of the analysis of the Cassiopeia A spectrum for evidence of ^44Ti line emission and about searches for evidence of nonthermal emission from other SNRs are described in a separate abstracts for this Meeting.

If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/users/gea/casa/casa.html. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the the Web space for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back button on your browser.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gea@lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Program listing for Tuesday