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https://hdl.handle.net/2440/76844
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Type: | Journal article |
Title: | Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the extragalactic pulsar wind nebula N 157B with HESS |
Author: | Maxted, N. Nicholas, B. Rowell, G. |
Citation: | Astronomy and Astrophysics: a European journal, 2012; 545:L2-1-L2-5 |
Publisher: | EDP Sciences |
Issue Date: | 2012 |
ISSN: | 0004-6361 1432-0746 |
Statement of Responsibility: | H.E.S.S. Collaboration, A. Abramowski ... N. Maxted ... B. Nicholas ... G. Rowell ... et al. |
Abstract: | We present the significant detection of the first extragalactic pulsar wind nebula (PWN) detected in gamma rays, N 157B, located in the large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Pulsars with high spin-down luminosity are found to power energised nebulae that emit gamma rays up to energies of several tens of TeV. N 157B is associated with PSR J0537−6910, which is the pulsar with the highest known spin-down luminosity. The High Energy Stereoscopic System telescope array observed this nebula on a yearly basis from 2004 to 2009 with a dead-time corrected exposure of 46 h. The gamma-ray spectrum between 600 GeV and 12 TeV is well-described by a pure power-law with a photon index of 2.8 ± 0.2(sub)stat ± 0.3(sub)syst and a normalisation at 1 TeV of (8.2 ± 0.8(sub)stat ± 2.5(sub)syst) × 10⁻¹³ cm-2 s⁻¹ TeV⁻¹. A leptonic multi-wavelength model shows that an energy of about 4 × 10⁴⁹ erg is stored in electrons and positrons. The apparent efficiency, which is the ratio of the TeV gamma-ray luminosity to the pulsar’s spin-down luminosity, 0.08% ± 0.01%, is comparable to those of PWNe found in the Milky Way. The detection of a PWN at such a large distance is possible due to the pulsar’s favourable spin-down luminosity and a bright infrared photon-field serving as an inverse-Compton-scattering target for accelerated leptons. By applying a calorimetric technique to these observations, the pulsar’s birth period is estimated to be shorter than 10 ms. |
Keywords: | gamma rays: general pulsars: individual: PSR J0537-6910 ISM: supernova remnants Magellanic Clouds |
Rights: | © ESO 2012 |
DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361/201219906 |
Grant ID: | CNRS-IN2P3 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201219906 |
Appears in Collections: | Aurora harvest Chemistry and Physics publications |
Files in This Item:
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hdl_76844.pdf | Published version | 1.21 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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