Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the extragalactic pulsar wind nebula N 157B with H.E.S.S.

Abramowski A, Acero F, Aharonian F, Akhperjanian AG, Anton G, Balenderan S, Balzer A, Barnacka A, Becherini Y, Becker J, Bernloehr K, Birsin E, Biteau J, Bochow A, Boisson C, Bolmont J, Bordas P, Brucker J, Brun F, Brun P, Bulik T, Carrigan S, Casanova S, Cerruti M, Chadwick PM, Charbonnier A, Chaves RCG, Cheesebrough A, Cologna G, Conrad J, Couturier C, Dalton M, Daniel MK, Davids ID, Degrange B, Deil C, Dickinson HJ, Djannati-Atai A, Domainko W, Drury LO, Dubus G, Dutson K, Dyks J, Dyrda M, Egberts K, Eger P, Espigat P, Fallon L, Farnier C, Fegan S, Feinstein F, Fernandes MV, Fernandez D, Fiasson A, Fontaine G, Foerster A, Fuessling M, Gajdus M, Gallant YA, Garrigoux T, Gast H, Gerard L, Giebels B, Glicenstein JF, Glueck B, Göring D, Grondin MH, Häffner S, Hague JD, Hahn J, Hampf D, Harris J, Hauser M, Heinz S, Heinzelmann G, Henri G, Hermann G, Hillert A, Hinton JA, Hofmann W, Hofverberg P, Holler M, Horns D, Jacholkowska A, De Jager OC, Jahn C, Jamrozy M, Jung I, Kastendieck MA, Katarzynski K, Katz U, Kaufmann S, Khelifi B, Klochkov D, Kluzniak W, Kneiske TM, Komin N, Kosack K, Kossakowski R, Krayzel F, Laffon H, Lamanna G, Lenain JP, Lennarz D, Lohse T, Lopatin A, Lu CC, Marandon V, Marcowith A, Masbou J, Maurin G, Maxted NI, Mayer M, Mccomb TJL, Medina MC, Mehault J, Menzler U, Moderski R, Mohamed M, Moulin E, Naumann CL, Naumann-Godo M, De Naurois M, Nedbal D, Nguyen N, Nicholas B, Niemiec J, Nolan SJ, Ohm S, Wilhelmi EDO, Opitz B, Ostrowski M, Oya I, Panter M, Arribas MP, Pekeur NW, Pelletier G, Perez J, Petrucci PO, Peyaud B, Pita S, Pühlhofer G, Punch M, Quirrenbach A, Raue M, Reimer A, Reimer O, Renaud M, De Los Reyes R, Rieger F, Ripken J, Rob L, Rosier-Lees S, Rowell G, Rudak B, Rulten CB, Sahakian V, Sanchez DA, Santangelo A, Schlickeiser R, Schulz A, Schwanke U, Schwarzburg S, Schwemmer S, Sheidaei F, Skilton JL, Sol H, Spengler G, Stawarz L, Steenkamp R, Stegmann C, Stinzing F, Stycz K, Sushch I, Szostek A, Tavernet JP, Terrier R, Tluczykont M, Valerius K, van Eldik C, Vasileiadis G, Venter C, Viana A, Vincent P, Voelk HJ, Volpe F, Vorobiov S, Vorster M, Wagner SJ, Ward M, White R, Wierzcholska A, Zacharias M, Zajczyk A, Zdziarski AA, Zech A, Zechlin HS (2012)

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2012

Journal

Publisher: EDP Sciences

Book Volume: 545

Article Number: L2

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201219906

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 ± 0.3 and a normalisation at 1- TeV of (8.2 ± 0.8 ± 2.5 ) × 10 cm - s - TeV . A leptonic multi-wavelength model shows that an energy of about 4 × 10 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. © ESO, 2012.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

University of Paris 7 - Denis Diderot / Université Paris VII Denis Diderot France (FR) Durham University United Kingdom (GB) Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Germany (DE) École Polytechnique - Université Paris-Saclay France (FR) Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Germany (DE) Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences Poland (PL) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique France (FR) Universität Hamburg (UHH) Germany (DE) Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) Germany (DE) Stockholm University / Stockholms universitet Sweden (SE) National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) / Հայաստանի Հանրապետության գիտությունների ազգային ակադեմիա, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ Armenia (AM) Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg Germany (DE) University of Montpellier / Université Montpellier France (FR) Université Joseph Fourier (UJF Grenoble 1) France (FR) Noordwes-Universiteit / North-West University South Africa (ZA) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany (DE) University of Savoy Mont Blanc / Université Savoie Mont Blanc France (FR) Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) / Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu (UMK) Poland (PL) University of Leicester United Kingdom (GB) Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) Ireland (IE) Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck / University of Innsbruck Austria (AT) Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences / Instytut Fizyki Jądrowej im. Henryka Niewodniczańskiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk Poland (PL) University of Adelaide Australia (AU) Jagiellonian University / Uniwersytet Jagielloński (UJ) Poland (PL) Univerzita Karlova v Praze / Charles University in Prague Czech Republic (CZ) University of Namibia (UNAM) Namibia (NA) University of Warsaw / Uniwersytet Warszawski Poland (PL)

How to cite

APA:

Abramowski, A., Acero, F., Aharonian, F., Akhperjanian, A.G., Anton, G., Balenderan, S.,... Zechlin, H.-S. (2012). Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the extragalactic pulsar wind nebula N 157B with H.E.S.S. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 545. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201219906

MLA:

Abramowski, A., et al. "Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the extragalactic pulsar wind nebula N 157B with H.E.S.S." Astronomy & Astrophysics 545 (2012).

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