Gamma-ray emission from molecular clouds illuminated by local young massive stellar clusters and detection prospects with current and next generation instruments
S. Celli*, A. Specovius, A. Mitchell, G. Morlino and S. Menchiari
Pre-published on:
July 25, 2023
Published on:
September 27, 2024
Abstract
Cosmic ray acceleration up to PeV energies has been suggested to take place in massive and young stellar clusters. The formation of a strong termination shock sustained by the collective action of stellar winds in a compact cluster offers a promising location where efficient particle acceleration might take place. The subsequent hadronic interactions of these particles result into gamma- ray production: in particular, if dense clouds are located within and around clusters, enhanced emission is expected. Within a scenario of particle acceleration at the cluster wind termination shock, we compute the emerging gamma-ray signal from molecular clouds illuminated by stellar clusters within the Milky Way. For this purpose, we adopt the Miville-Deschenes cloud catalog based on the Dame CO survey and astrometric observations of stellar clusters by GAIA. We further evaluate detection prospects of the gamma-ray flux with the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/1.444.0775
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