Molecular and Atomic Gas Associated with the Gamma Ray Supernova Remnant RCW 103
Abstract
We present a study of the interstellar molecular and atomic gas associated with the gamma-ray supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 103 using the Mopra 12CO(J = 1-0), Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array 13CO(J = 1-0), and the Australia Telescope Compact Array & Parkes HI data. We find that CO clouds in the velocity range from −58.7 to −43.5 km s−1 show a clear spatial correspondence with the X-ray shell of RCW 103, particularly extending from the northwestern to the southeastern regions. The position-velocity diagram of the CO emission reveals an expanding gas motion with an expansion velocity of ΔV ∼$7.5$ km s−1, which may have been produced by shock waves and/or stellar winds from the progenitor system. We estimate the total cosmic-ray proton energy to be ∼3.0+1.1−0.6 × 1047 erg, adopting a total interstellar proton density of ∼$810$ cm−3. This value is more than an order of magnitude lower than those inferred for other gamma-ray emitting SNRs of comparable age. Given that a substantial amount of dense gas remains within the interior of RCW 103, where thermal X-ray emission is dominant, our results possibly suggest that a significant fraction of the shock energy may have been converted into thermal energy via gas heating, thereby reducing the efficiency of cosmic-ray acceleration.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{inoue2026molecular,
title = {{Molecular and Atomic Gas Associated with the Gamma Ray Supernova Remnant RCW 103}},
author = {H. Inoue and Y. Asano and R. G. Bhuvana and R. Z. Alsaberi and R. Yamada and K. Tsuge and T. Murase and Y. Fukui and E. M. Reynoso and K. Tachihara and N. Izumi and M. Yamagishi and K. Furuya and N. Harada and K. Tokuda and G. Rowell and M. D. Filipović and H. Sano},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.24187},
eprint = {2608.24187},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.24187},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Molecular and Atomic Gas Associated with the Gamma Ray Supernova Remnant RCW 103
AU - H. Inoue
AU - Y. Asano
AU - R. G. Bhuvana
AU - R. Z. Alsaberi
AU - R. Yamada
AU - K. Tsuge
AU - T. Murase
AU - Y. Fukui
AU - E. M. Reynoso
AU - K. Tachihara
AU - N. Izumi
AU - M. Yamagishi
AU - K. Furuya
AU - N. Harada
AU - K. Tokuda
AU - G. Rowell
AU - M. D. Filipović
AU - H. Sano
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/17
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.24187
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.24187
AB - We present a study of the interstellar molecular and atomic gas associated with the gamma-ray supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 103 using the Mopra ^12CO(J = 1-0), Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array ^13CO(J = 1-0), and the Australia Telescope Compact Array & Parkes HI data. We find that CO clouds in the velocity range from −58.7 to −43.5 km s^−1 show a clear spatial correspondence with the X-ray shell of RCW 103, particularly extending from the northwestern to the southeastern regions. The position-velocity diagram of the CO emission reveals an expanding gas motion with an expansion velocity of ΔV ∼$7.5$ km s^−1, which may have been produced by shock waves and/or stellar winds from the progenitor system. We estimate the total cosmic-ray proton energy to be ∼3.0^+1.1_−0.6 × 10^47 erg, adopting a total interstellar proton density of ∼$810$ cm^−3. This value is more than an order of magnitude lower than those inferred for other gamma-ray emitting SNRs of comparable age. Given that a substantial amount of dense gas remains within the interior of RCW 103, where thermal X-ray emission is dominant, our results possibly suggest that a significant fraction of the shock energy may have been converted into thermal energy via gas heating, thereby reducing the efficiency of cosmic-ray acceleration.
ER -