FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE DISCOVERY OF GeV GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM THE VICINITY OF SNR W44
We report the detection of GeV {gamma}-ray emission from the molecular cloud complex that surrounds the supernova remnant (SNR) W44 using the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi. While the previously reported {gamma}-ray emission from SNR W44 is likely to arise from the dense radio-emitting filaments within the remnant, the {gamma}-ray emission that appears to come from the surrounding molecular cloud complex can be ascribed to the cosmic rays (CRs) that have escaped from W44. The non-detection of synchrotron radio emission associated with the molecular cloud complex suggests the decay of {pi}{sup 0} mesons produced in hadronic collisions as the {gamma}-ray emission mechanism. The total kinetic energy channeled into the escaping CRs is estimated to be W{sub esc} {approx} (0.3-3) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 50} erg, in broad agreement with the conjecture that SNRs are the main sources of Galactic CRs.