Diffusive Shock Acceleration of Electrons and Radio Emission from Large Diameter Shell-Type Supernova Remnants

Abstract

In present study I examine the capability of diffusive shock acceleration mechanism to explain existing data on radio emission from evolved large diameter shell-type adiabatic supernova remnants (SNRs). Time-dependent ''onion-shell'' model for the radio emission of SNRs is developed, which is based on the assumptions: a) acceleration takes place from thermal energies and test-particle approximation is valid; b) the problem of injection is avoided by introducing, like Bell (1978), two injection parameters; c) to take into consideration very late stages of SNR evolution the analytic approximation of Cox and Andersen (1982) for the shell structure is used; c)no radiative cooling. Constructed Surface Brightness - Diameter $(Σ-D)$ tracks are compared with the empirical $Σ-D$ diagram. The main conclusion of the study is that the DSA mechanism is capable of explaining all the statistics of radio SNRs including very large diameter remnants and giant galactic loops.