Relativistic collisonless shocks propagating in plasmas are an essential ingredient to explain particleaccelerators such as gamma-ray bursts, supernovae remnants, pulsar and stellar winds. Numerical simulations predict particle energy distributions but these are very difficult to test because of the lack of simultaneous observation over 20 decades of frequency, complex geometries or variability.We propose to use SPIRE in the Small Map configuration to map the infrared emission of a very energeticand old pulsar wind nebula recently detected by HESS. Exploiting the unique resolution and sensitivity of SPIRE at 250, 350 and 500 mu m, we aim at detecting the faint synchrotron emission that will be comparedto existing measurements in the radio, X-rays and gamma-rays. These wavebands, located between the CMB and dust emission, are centered where the synchrotron emission from the predicted relativistic Maxwellian distribution peaks, providing a constraining flux measurement.
Publication
Instrument
SPIRE_SpirePhoto_small
Temporal Coverage
2011-09-01T18:50:40Z/2011-09-01T19:16:29Z
Version
SPG v14.1.0
Mission Description
Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009! It is the fourth cornerstone mission in the ESA science programme. With a 3.5 m Cassegrain telescope it is the largest space telescope ever launched. It is performing photometry and spectroscopy in approximately the 55-671 µm range, bridging the gap between earlier infrared space missions and groundbased facilities.
European Space Agency, balbo et al., 2012, 'Measuring the electron spectrum generated by diffuse shock acceleration in the Pulsar Wind Nebula HESS J1632-478.', SPG v14.1.0, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-aknllu7
