Nonlinear shock acceleration and γ-ray emission from Tycho and Kepler

We apply the non-linear diffusive shock acceleration theory in order to describe the properties of two supernova remnants, SN 1572 (Tycho) and SN 1604 (Kepler). By analyzing the multi-wavelength spectra, we infer that both Tycho’s and Kepler’s forward shocks (FS) are accelerating protons up to ∼ 500 TeV, channeling into cosmic rays more than 10 per cent of their kinetic energy. We find that the streaming instability induced by cosmic rays is consistent with the X-ray morphology of the remnants, indicating a very efficient magnetic field amplification (up to ∼ 300μG). In the case of Tycho we explain the γ-ray spectrum from the GeV up to the TeV band as due to pion decay produced in nuclear collisions by accelerated nuclei scattering against the background gas. On the other hand, due to the larger distance, the γ-ray emission from Kepler is not detected, being below the sensitivity of the present detectors, but it should be detectable by CTA.