Temporal Evolution of Nonthermal Spectra from Supernova Remnants

Abstract

Assuming that supernova shocks accelerate nonthermal particles, we model the temporally evolving nonthermal particle and photon spectra at different stages in the lifetime of a standard shell-type supernova remnant (SNR). A characteristic νFν spectrum of an SNR consists of a peak at radio through optical energies from nonthermal electron synchrotron emission and another high-energy gamma-ray peak due primarily to secondary pion production, nonthermal electron bremsstrahlung, and Compton scattering. We find that supernova remnants are capable of producing maximum gamma-ray luminosities ≳1035 ergs s-1 if the density of the local interstellar medium is ≳10 cm-3. This emission will persist for ≳105 yr after the supernova explosion because of the long energy loss timescales for electrons with kinetic energy ~1 GeV. This long gamma-ray lifetime implies that SNRs with a wide range of ages could be gamma-ray sources and could constitute some of the unidentified EGRET sources.