139 research outputs found
A newly discovered VHE gamma-ray PWN candidate around PSR J1459-60
Observations of the Galactic Plane performed by the H.E.S.S. telescope array have revealed a significant excess at very-high-energies (VHE; E>0.1 TeV) from the direction of PSR J1459-60, a rather old gamma-ray pulsar (64 kyr) with a spindown energy of ~10^36 erg/s, discovered by the Fermi/LAT satellite in high-energy (HE) gamma-rays. The X-ray pulsar counterpart has been recently detected using the Suzaku satellite. In this contribution, we present the discovery of a new VHE gamma-ray source, including morphological and spectral analyses. Its association with the gamma-ray pulsar in a PWN scenario will be discussed
The near-infrared detection of PSR B0540-69 and its nebula
The ~1700 year old PSR B0540-69 in the LMC is considered the twin of the Crab
pulsar because of its similar spin parameters, magnetic field, and energetics.
Its optical spectrum is fit by a power-law, ascribed to synchrotron radiation,
like for the young Crab and Vela pulsars. nIR observations, never performed for
PSR B0540-69, are crucial to determine whether the optical power-law spectrum
extends to longer wavelengths or a new break occurs, like it happens for both
the Crab and Vela pulsars in the mIR, hinting at an even more complex particle
energy and density distribution in the pulsar magnetosphere. We observed PSR
B0540-69 in the J, H, and Ks bands with the VLT to detect it, for the first
time, in the nIR and characterise its optical-to-nIR spectrum. To disentangle
the pulsar emission from that of its pulsar wind nebula (PWN), we obtained
high-spatial resolution adaptive optics images with NACO. We could clearly
identify PSR B0540-69 in our J, H, and Ks-band images and measure its flux
(J=20.14, H=19.33, Ks=18.55, with an overall error of +/- 0.1 magnitudes in
each band). The joint fit to the available optical and nIR photometry with a
power-law spectrum gives a spectral index alpha=0.70 +/-0.04. The comparison
between our NACO images and HST optical ones does not reveal any apparent
difference in the PWN morphology as a function of wavelength. The PWN
optical-to-nIR spectrum is also fit by a single power-law, with spectral index
alpha=0.56+/- 0.03, slightly flatter than the pulsar's. Using NACO at the VLT,
we obtained the first detection of PSR B0540-69 and its PWN in the nIR. Due to
the small angular scale of the PWN (~4") only the spatial resolution of the
JWST will make it possible to extend the study of the pulsar and PWN spectrum
towards the mid-IR.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication on Astronomy and
Astrophysic
UV Emission line shifts of symbiotic binaries
Relative and absolute emission line shifts have been previously found for
symbiotic binaries, but their cause was not clear. This work aims to better
understand the emission line shifts. Positions of strong emission lines were
measured on archival UV spectra of Z And, AG Dra, RW Hya, SY Mus and AX Per and
relative shifts between the lines of different ions compared. Profiles of lines
of RW Hya and Z And were also examined. The reality of the relative shift
between resonance and intercombination lines of several times ionised atoms was
clearly shown except for AG Dra. This redshift shows a well defined variation
with orbital phase for Z And and RW Hya. In addition the intercombination lines
from more ionised atoms and especially OIV are redshifted with respect to those
from less ionised atoms. Other effects are seen in the profiles. The
resonance-intercombination line shift variation can be explained in quiescence
by P Cygni shorter wavelength component absorption, due to the wind of the cool
component, which is specially strong in inferior conjunction of this cool
giant. The velocity stratification permits absorption of line emission. The
relative intercombination line shifts may be connected with varying occultation
of line emission near an accretion disk, which is optically thick in the
continuum.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, to appear in A&
Discovery of very high energy Îł-ray emission from the BL Lacertae object PKS 0301-243 with H.E.S.S.
The active galactic nucleus PKSâ0301â243 (z = 0.266) is a high-synchrotron-peaked BLâLac object that is detected at high energies (HE, 100 MeV 100 GeV) by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) from observations between September 2009 and December 2011 for a total live time of 34.9 h. Gamma rays above 200âGeV are detected at a significance of 9.4Ï. A hint of variability at the 2.5Ï level is found. An integral flux I(E > 200âGeV) = (3.3 ± 1.1stat ± 0.7syst) Ă 10-12âphâcm-2âs-1 and a photon index Î = 4.6 ± 0.7stat ± 0.2syst are measured. Multi-wavelength light curves in HE, X-ray and optical bands show strong variability, and a minimal variability timescale of eight days is estimated from the optical light curve. A single-zone leptonic synchrotron self-Compton scenario satisfactorily reproduces the multi-wavelength data. In this model, the emitting region is out of equipartition and the jet is particle dominated. Because of its high redshift compared to other sources observed at TeV energies, the very high energy emission from PKSâ0301â243 is attenuated by the extragalactic background light (EBL) and the measured spectrum is used to derive an upper limit on the opacity of the EBL.Fil: Abramowski, A.. Universitat Hamburg; AlemaniaFil: Acero, F.. Universite Montpellier II; FranciaFil: Aharonian, F.. Max Planck Institut fĂŒr Kernphysik; AlemaniaFil: Benkhali, F. Ait. Max Planck Institut fĂŒr Kernphysik; AlemaniaFil: Akhperjanian, A. G.. National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia; ArmeniaFil: Medina, Maria Clementina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. GobernaciĂłn. Comision de Investigaciones CientĂficas. Instituto Argentino de RadioastronomĂa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia; ArgentinaFil: Valerius, K.. UniversitĂ€t Erlangen NĂŒrnberg; AlemaniaFil: van Eldik, C.. UniversitĂ€t Erlangen NĂŒrnberg; AlemaniaFil: Vasileiadis, G.. Universite Montpellier II; FranciaFil: Venter, C.. North West University; SudĂĄfricaFil: Viana, A.. Max Planck Institut fĂŒr Kernphysik; AlemaniaFil: Vincent, P.. UniversitĂ© Paris Diderot - Paris 7; FranciaFil: Völk, H. J.. Max Planck Institut fĂŒr Kernphysik; AlemaniaFil: Volpe, F.. Max Planck Institut fĂŒr Kernphysik; AlemaniaFil: Vorster, M.. North West University; SudĂĄfricaFil: Wagner, S. J.. UniversitĂ€t Heidelberg; AlemaniaFil: Wagner, P.. Humboldt UniversitĂ€t zu Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Ward, M.. University Of Durham; Reino UnidoFil: Weidinger, M.. Ruhr-universitĂ€t Bochum; AlemaniaFil: Weitzel, Q.. Max Planck Institut fĂŒr Kernphysik; AlemaniaFil: White, R.. The University of Leicester; Reino UnidoFil: Wierzcholska, A.. Uniwersytet Jagiellonski; PoloniaFil: Willmann, P.. UniversitĂ€t Erlangen NĂŒrnberg; AlemaniaFil: Wörnlein, A.. UniversitĂ€t Erlangen NĂŒrnberg; AlemaniaFil: Wouters, D.. CEA Saclay; FranciaFil: Zacharias, M.. Ruhr-universitĂ€t Bochum; AlemaniaFil: Zajczyk, A.. Universite Montpellier II; FranciaFil: Zdziarski, A. A.. Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center; PoloniaFil: Zech, A.. UniversitĂ© Paris Diderot - Paris 7; FranciaFil: Zechlin, H. S.. Universitat Hamburg; Alemani
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