Molecular and Atomic Gas Associated with the Gamma Ray Supernova Remnant RCW 103

Abstract

We present a study of the interstellar molecular and atomic gas associated with the gamma-ray supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 103 using the Mopra $^{12}$CO($J$ = 1-0), Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array $^{13}$CO($J$ = 1-0), and the Australia Telescope Compact Array & Parkes HI data. We find that CO clouds in the velocity range from $-58.7$ to $-43.5$ km s$^{-1}$ show a clear spatial correspondence with the X-ray shell of RCW 103, particularly extending from the northwestern to the southeastern regions. The position-velocity diagram of the CO emission reveals an expanding gas motion with an expansion velocity of $ΔV \sim$$7.5$ km s$^{-1}$, which may have been produced by shock waves and/or stellar winds from the progenitor system. We estimate the total cosmic-ray proton energy to be $\sim$$3.0^{+1.1}_{-0.6} \times 10^{47}$ erg, adopting a total interstellar proton density of $\sim$$810$ cm$^{-3}$. This value is more than an order of magnitude lower than those inferred for other gamma-ray emitting SNRs of comparable age. Given that a substantial amount of dense gas remains within the interior of RCW 103, where thermal X-ray emission is dominant, our results possibly suggest that a significant fraction of the shock energy may have been converted into thermal energy via gas heating, thereby reducing the efficiency of cosmic-ray acceleration.