RT Journal Article
T1 Periastron Observations of TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from a Binary System with a 50-year Period
A1 Barrio Uña, Juan Abel
A1 Contreras González, José Luis
A1 Domínguez Díaz, Alberto
A1 Carreto Fidalgo, David Friedrich
A1 Fonseca González, Victoria
A1 Hoang, Kim Dinh
A1 López Moya, Marcos
A1 Nievas Rosillo, Mireia
A1 Peñil del Campo, Pablo
A1 Saha, Lab
AB We report on observations of the pulsar/Be star binary system PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213 in the energy range between 100 GeV and 20 TeV with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array and Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescope arrays. The binary orbit has a period of approximately 50 years, with the most recent periastron occurring on 2017 November 13. Our observations span from 18 months prior to periastron to one month after. A new point-like gamma-ray source is detected, coincident with the location of PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213. The gamma-ray light curve and spectrum are well characterized over the periastron passage. The flux is variable over at least an order of magnitude, peaking at periastron, thus providing a firm association of the TeV source with the pulsar/Be star system. Observations prior to periastron show a cutoff in the spectrum at an energy around 0.5 TeV. This result adds a new member to the small population of known TeV binaries, and it identifies only the second source of this class in which the nature and properties of the compact object are firmly established. We compare the gamma-ray results with the light curve measured with the X-ray Telescope on board the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and with the predictions of recent theoretical models of the system. We conclude that significant revision of the models is required to explain the details of the emission that we have observed, and we discuss the relationship between the binary system and the overlapping steady extended source, TeV J2032+4130.
PB IOP Publishing Ltd
SN 2041-8205
YR 2018
FD 2018-11-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/13054
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/13054
LA eng
NO © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Artículo firmado por 212 autores. VERITAS is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and by NSERC in Canada. We acknowledge the excellent work of the support staff at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory and at collaborating institutions in the construction and operation of VERITAS.; We acknowledge Fermi and Swift GI program grants 80NSSC17K0648 and 80NSSC17K0314.
NO U.S. Department of Energy
NO U.S. National Science Foundation
NO Smithsonian Institution
NO NSERC in Canada
NO Fermi and Swift GI program
DS Docta Complutense
RD 2 may 2024