Supernova remnants (SNRs) are widely considered the most likely source of cosmic rays below the knee ($10^{15}$ eV). Studies of GeV and TeV gamma-ray emission in the vicinity of SNRs, in combination with multi-wavelength observations, can trace and constrain the nature of the charged particle population believed to be accelerated within SNR shocks. They may also speak to the diffusion and propagation of these energetic particles and to the nature of the acceleration mechanisms involved. We report here on recent observations of SNRs with VERITAS, including the discoveries of VHE gamma-ray emission from from G120.1+1.4 (Tycho's SNR) and from the northwest shell of G78.2+2.1 (gamma-ray source VER J2019+407, which was discovered as a consequence of the VERITAS Cygnus region survey).
Geminga is a nearby (250 pc) middle-aged (spin-down time scale ~12,000 years) pulsar associated with a supernova remnant. Geminga has been a prime candidate for the origin of the unexpectedly high flux of cosmic-ray positrons above 10 GeV detected at Earth. Extended TeV gamma-ray emission from a 2-degree region around the Geminga pulsar was detected by the HAWC observatory, thus suggesting efficient, high-energy leptonic acceleration. Fermi-LAT observations show that the density of GeV leptons in the TeV nebula is lower than predicted by single zone and two zone diffusion models constrained wi…
Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are a rare class of stellar explosions with luminosities ~10-100 times greater than ordinary core-collapse supernovae. One popular model to explain the enhanced optical output of hydrogen-poor (Type I) SLSNe invokes energy injection from a rapidly spinning magnetar. A prediction in this case is that high-energy gamma rays, generated in the wind nebula of the magnetar, could escape through the expanding supernova ejecta at late times (months or more after optical peak). This paper presents a search for gamma-ray emission in the broad energy band from 100 MeV to …
VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) is one of the most sensitive currently operating arrays of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, which detect very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. VERITAS is currently in its 11th year of full-array operations with four 12m-diameter telescopes. Many Galactic sources of VHE gamma rays have been detected by VERITAS, such as pulsar wind nebulae, binary systems, and supernova remnants, and the study of VHE emission from these objects has enabled a deeper understanding of the underlying physical processes responsible f…
Located in southern Arizona, VERITAS is amongst the most sensitive detectors for astrophysical very high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma rays and has been operational since April 2007. We highlight some recent results from VERITAS observations. These include the long-term observations of the gamma-ray binaries HESS J0632+057 and LS I +61° 303, the observations of the Galactic Center region, and of the supernova remnant Cas~A. We discuss the results from a decade of multi-wavelength observations of the blazar 1ES 1215+303, the EHT 2017 campaign on the M87 galaxy, the discovery of 3C 264 in VHE, a…
We present a catalog of results of gamma-ray observations made by VERITAS, published from 2008 to 2020. VERITAS is a ground based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope observatory located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) in southern Arizona, sensitive to gamma-ray photons with energies in the range of ~100 GeV - 30 TeV. Its observation targets include galactic sources such as binary star systems, pulsar wind nebulae, and supernova remnants, extragalactic sources like active galactic nuclei, star forming galaxies, and gamma-ray bursts, and some unidentified objects. The catalog…
Energy released when the core of a high-mass star collapses into a black hole often powers an explosion that creates a supernova remnant. Black holes have limited windows of observability, and consequently are rarely identified in association with supernova remnants. Analysing multi-messenger data, we show that MAXI J1535-571 is the black hole produced in the stellar explosion that gave rise to the supernova remnant G323.7-1.0, making it the first case of an association between a black hole low-mass X-ray binary and a supernova remnant. Given this connection, we can infer from our modelling th…
We report the discovery of a new high mass X-ray binary pulsar, XMMU J050722.1-684758, possibly associated with the supernova remnant MCSNR J0507-6847 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using XMM-Newton X-ray observations. Pulsations with a periodicity of 570 s are discovered from the Be X-ray binary XMMU J050722.1-684758 confirming its nature as a HMXB pulsar. The HMXB is located near the geometric centre of the supernova remnant MCSNR J0507-6847 (0.9 arcmin from the centre) which supports the XRB-SNR association. The estimated age of the supernova remnant is 43-63 kyr which points to a middle ag…
We present a study of $γ$-ray emission from the core-collapse supernova remnant Cas~A in the energy range from 0.1GeV to 10TeV. We used 65 hours of VERITAS data to cover 200 GeV - 10 TeV, and 10.8 years of \textit{Fermi}-LAT data to cover 0.1-500 GeV. The spectral analysis of \textit{Fermi}-LAT data shows a significant spectral curvature around $1.3 \pm 0.4_{stat}$ GeV that is consistent with the expected spectrum from pion decay. Above this energy, the joint spectrum from \textit{Fermi}-LAT and VERITAS deviates significantly from a simple power-law, and is best described by a power-law with s…
