A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Proton acceleration in thermonuclear nova explosions revealed by gamma rays
Authors: Acciari VA, Ansoldi S, Antonelli LA, Engels AA, Artero M, Asano K, Baack D, Babic A, Baquero A, de Almeida UB, Barrio JA, Batkovic I, Gonzalez JB, Bednarek W, Bellizzi L, Bernardini E, Bernardos M, Berti A, Besenrieder J, Bhattacharyya W, Bigongiari C, Biland A, Blanch O, Bokenkamp H, Bonnoli G, Bosnjak A, Busetto G, Carosi R, Ceribella G, Cerruti M, Chai Y, Chilingarian A, Cikota S, Colak SM, Colombo E, Contreras JL, Cortina J, Covino S, D'Amico G, D'Elia V, Da Vela P, Dazzi F, De Angelis A, De Lotto B, Del Popolo A, Delfino M, Delgado J, Mendez CD, Depaoli D, Di Pierro F, Di Venere L, Espineira ED, Prester DD, Donini A, Dorner D, Doro M, Elsaesser D, Fallah Ramazani Vandad, Alonso LF, Fattorini A, Fonseca MV, Font L, Fruck C, Fukami S, Fukazawa Y, Lopez RJG, Garczarczyk M, Gasparyan S, Gaug M, Giglietto N, Giordano F, Gliwny P, Godinovic N, Green JG, Green D, Hadasch D, Hahn A, Hassan T, Heckmann L, Herrera J, Hoang J, Hrupec D, Hutten M, Inada T, Ishio K, Iwamura Y, Martinez IJ, Jormanainen Jenni, Jouvin L, Kerszberg D, Kobayashi Y, Kubo H, Kushida J, Lamastra A, Lelas D, Leone F, Lindfors Elina, Linhoff L, Lombardi S, Longo F, Lopez-Coto R, Lopez-Moya M, Lopez-Oramas A, Loporchio S, Fraga BMD, Maggio C, Majumdar P, Makariev M, Mallamaci M, Maneva G, Manganaro M, Mannheim K, Maraschi L, Mariotti M, Martinez M, Aguilar AM, Mazin D, Menchiari S, Mender S, Micanovic S, Miceli D, Miener T, Miranda JM, Mirzoyan R, Molina E, Moralejo A, Morcuende D, Moreno V, Moretti E, Nakamori T, Nava L, Neustroev V, Rosillo MN, Nigro C, Nilsson Kari, Nishijima K, Noda K, Nozaki S, Ohtani Y, Oka T, Otero-Santos J, Paiano S, Palatiello M, Paneque D, Paoletti R, Paredes JM, Pavletic L, Penil P, Persic M, Pihet M, Moroni PGP, Prandini E, Priyadarshi C, Puljak I, Rhode W, Ribo M, Rico J, Righi C, Rugliancich A, Sahakyan N, Saito T, Sakurai S, Satalecka K, Saturni FG, Schleicher B, Schmidt K, Schweizer T, Sitarek J, Snidaric I, Sobczynska D, Spolon A, Stamerra A, Striskovic J, Strom D, Strzys M, Suda Y, Suric T, Takahashi M, Takeishi R, Tavecchio F, Temnikov P, Terzic T, Teshima M, Tosti L, Truzzi S, Tutone A, Ubach S, van Scherpenberg J, Vanzo G, Acosta MV, Ventura S, Verguilov V, Vigorito CF, Vitale V, Vovk I, Will M, Wunderlich C, Yamamoto T, Zaric D, Ambrosino F, Cecconi M, Catanzaro G, Ferrara C, Frasca A, Munari M, Giustolisi L, Alonso-Santiago J, Giarrusso M, Munari U, Valisa P
Publisher: NATURE RESEARCH
Publication year: 2022
Journal: Nature Astronomy
Journal name in source: NATURE ASTRONOMY
Journal acronym: NAT ASTRON
Volume: 6
First page : 689
Last page: 697
Number of pages: 20
ISSN: 2397-3366
eISSN: 2397-3366
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01640-z
Web address : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-022-01640-z
Classical novae are cataclysmic binary star systems in which the matter of a companion star is accreted on a white dwarf(1,2). Accumulation of hydrogen in a layer eventually causes a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the white dwarf(3), brightening the white dwarf to similar to ~10 5 solar luminosities and triggering ejection of the accumulated matter. Novae provide the extreme conditions required to accelerate particles, electrons or protons, to high energies. Here we present the detection of gamma rays by the MAGIC telescopes from the 2021 outburst of RS Ophiuchi, a recurrent nova with a red giant companion, which allowed us to accurately characterize the emission from a nova in the 60 GeV to 250 GeV energy range. The theoretical interpretation of the combined Fermi LAT and MAGIC data suggests that protons are accelerated to hundreds of gigaelectronvolts in the nova shock. Such protons should create bubbles of enhanced cosmic ray density, of the order of 10 pc, from the recurrent novae.
