Computational Astrophysics

Introduction
Supernova Remnants (SNR) are thought to be the locations were the majority of cosmic rays (CR) are produced below the energy of the CR knee (~10¹⁵ eV). With recent multiwavelength observations in of synchrotron radiation in the radio and X-ray it has been shown that SNRs can accelerate at electrons to 10's of TeV. It remains to be shown conclusively that SNRs accelerate CR protons, however observations of TeV gamma-rays seem to indicate that they are but not satisfactorily.^[1]

Our Simulations
We have run a suite of SNR Diffusive Shock Acceleration models for Type Ia Supernova using CRASH^[2]. An in house code called Cosmicp was developed to model the emissions from these simulations^[1]. With these synthetic observations we are able to conclude that looking between 0.1-1 GeV one should see a feature due to π⁰ decays if the ambient density is greater that about 0.01 particles per cubic centimeter which is in the Fermi energy range^[1]. We also find that the spatial profile due to π⁰ decays is significantly more strongly peaked at the forward shock than the inverse Compton profile which is due to Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) photons scattering off of electrons^[1]. Both of these features, if detected, are conclusive proof that protons are being accelerated at SNR forward shocks^[1].

References
^[1]Edmon P. P., Kang H. & Jones T. W., 2009, Astroparticle Physics, in preparation
^[2]Kang, H., 2006, Journal of the Korean Astronomical Society, 39, 95 (ADS Link)