Discovery of the binary pulsar PSR B1259-63 in very-high-energy gamma rays around periastron with HESS

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作者
Aharonian, F. [3 ]
Akhperjanian, A.G. [4 ]
Aye, K.-M. [5 ]
Bazer-Bachi, A.R. [6 ]
Beilicke, M. [7 ]
Benbow, W. [3 ]
Berge, D. [3 ]
Berghaus, P. [1 ,8 ,9 ]
Bernlöhr, K. [3 ,10 ]
Boisson, C. [11 ]
Bolz, O. [3 ]
Braun, I. [3 ]
Breitling, F. [10 ]
Brown, A.M. [5 ]
Gordo, J. Bussons [12 ]
Chadwick, P.M. [5 ]
Chounet, L.-M. [13 ]
Cornils, R. [7 ]
Costamante, L. [3 ,23 ]
Degrange, B. [13 ]
Djannati-Ataï, A. [8 ,9 ]
Drury, L.O.'C. [14 ]
Dubus, G. [13 ]
Emmanoulopoulos, D. [15 ]
Espigat, P. [8 ,9 ]
Feinstein, F. [12 ]
Fleury, P. [13 ]
Fontaine, G. [13 ]
Fuchs, Y. [16 ]
Funk, S. [3 ]
Gallant, Y.A. [12 ]
Giebels, B. [13 ]
Gillessen, S. [3 ]
Glicenstein, J.F. [17 ]
Goret, P. [17 ]
Hadjichristidis, C. [5 ]
Hauser, M. [15 ]
Heinzelmann, G. [7 ]
Henri, G. [16 ]
Hermann, G. [3 ]
Hinton, J.A. [3 ]
Hofmann, W. [3 ]
Holleran, M. [18 ]
Horns, D. [3 ]
De Jager, O.C. [18 ]
Johnston, S. [24 ]
Khélifi, B. [3 ]
Kirk, J.G. [3 ]
Komin, Nu. [10 ]
Konopelko, A. [1 ,10 ]
机构
[1] Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences, Campus de la Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
[2] Department of Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of Sheffield, Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom
[3] Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany
[4] Yerevan Physics Institute, Yerevan, Armenia
[5] University of Durham, Department of Physics, Durham, United Kingdom
[6] Centre d'Étude Spatiale des Rayonnements, CNRS/UPS, Toulouse, France
[7] Universität Hamburg, Institut für Experimentalphysik, Hamburg, Germany
[8] APC, Paris, France
[9] UMR 7164 (CNRS, Université Paris VII, CEA, Observatoire de Paris)
[10] Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
[11] LUTH, UMR 8102 du CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
[12] Groupe d'Astroparticules de Montpellier, IN2P3/CNRS, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France
[13] Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, IN2P3/CNRS, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
[14] Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, Ireland
[15] Landessternwarte, Königstuhl, Heidelberg, Germany
[16] Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, INSU/CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France
[17] DAPNIA/DSM/CEA, CE Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
[18] Unit for Space Physics, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
[19] Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies, IN2P3/CNRS, Universités Paris VI and VII, Paris, France
[20] Institut für Theoretische Physik, Lehrstuhl IV: Weltraum und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
[21] Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
[22] University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
[23] European Associated Laboratory for Gamma-Ray Astronomy
[24] School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia
[25] Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Norway
来源
Astronomy and Astrophysics | 1600年 / 442卷 / 01期
关键词
Galaxies - Gamma rays - Light emission - Synchrotron radiation;
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摘要
We report the discovery of very-high-energy (VHE) γ-ray emission of the binary system PSR B1259-63/SS 2883 of a radio pulsar orbiting a massive, luminous Be star in a highly eccentric orbit. The observations around the 2004 periastron passage of the pulsar were performed with the four 13m Cherenkov telescopes of the HESS experiment, recently installed in Namibia and in full operation since December 2003. Between February and June 2004, a γ-ray signal from the binary system was detected with a total significance above 13σ. The flux was found to vary significantly on timescales of days which makes PSR B1259-63 the first variable galactic source of VHE γ-rays observed so far. Strong emission signals were observed in pre- and post-periastron phases with a flux minimum around periastron, followed by a gradual flux decrease in the months after. The measured time-averaged energy spectrum above a mean threshold energy of 380 GeV can be fitted by a simple power law F0(E/1 TeV)-Γ with a photon index Γ = 2.7 ± 0.2stat ± 0.2sys and flux normalisation F0 = (1.3 ± 0.lstat ± 0.3 sys) × 10-12 TeV-1 cm-2 s -1. This detection of VHE γ-rays provides unambiguous evidence for particle acceleration to multi-TeV energies in the binary system. In combination with coeval observations of the X-ray synchrotron emission by the RXTE and INTEGRAL instruments, and assuming the VHE γ-ray emission to be produced by the inverse Compton mechanism, the magnetic field strength can be directly estimated to be of the order of 1 G. © ESO 2005.
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