Search for TeVγrays from SN 1987 A during December 1987 and January 1988

Gamma-rays and neutrinos from very young supernova remnants

“…Available upper limits on the TeV γ-ray flux from SN 1987A are as follows: t ≈ 10 months (November 1987) -2.3 ×10 −11 cm −2 s −1 above 1 TeV (Raubenheimer et al [12]); t ≈ 1 year -6.1×10 −12 cm −2 above 3 TeV (Bond et al [8]); t ≈ 1 year (January/February 1988) -1.6×10 −10 cm −2 s −1 above 0.4 TeV (Chadwick et al [10]). Assuming a distance of 55 kpc, and if the observer is inside the beam of energetic neutrons injected by the pulsar, which will also define the γ-ray beam, then the value of ξ −1 Ω b can be constrained by the 1 TeV upper limit mentioned above, giving ξ −1 Ω b > 0.36 sr for the case of P 0 = 5 ms (see Fig.…”

“…Young supernova remnants are probably sites of acceleration of particles to high energies and, as a result of interactions, also sources of high energy neutrinos and γ-rays [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Following the occurrence of SN1987A it was expected that high energy γ-rays would be detected from this object, but the observations have so far been negative [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Also, some models required the formation of a pulsar during the supernova (SN) explosion which has not yet been discovered.…”

“…Mean free path for photodisintegration of nuclei in isotropic black body radiation at temperature T = 10 7 K as a function of Lorentz factor, γ A , for various mass numbers A: 4 (top curve),8,16,40, and 56 (bottom curve).…”

A Search for TeV Gamma Rays from SN 1987A in 2001

“…Although observational efforts in the highenergy gamma-ray region were intensively carried out for several years (Raubenheimer et al 1988;Ciampa et al 1988;Bond et al 1988aBond et al ,b, 1989Allen et al 1993a,b;van Stekelenborg et al 1993;Yoshii et al 1996), no positive signals were obtained, with the possible exception of a 2-day TeV gamma-ray burst (Bond et al 1988b). No observations since 1991 have been reported, despite the fact that models predict an increasing flux of high energy gamma-rays as the SN shock wave expands.…”

An optical and near infrared search for a pulsar in Supernova 1987A

“…Bond et al 1988), or upper limits. The possibility of detecting a periodic signal at these energies is hampered by the low sensitivity of the detectors, the low number of photon events and the background from cosmic rays and radioactive decays in the supernova remnant.…”