A Search for Very High-Energy Gamma Rays from the Missing Link Binary Pulsar J1023+0038 with VERITAS
Abstract
The binary millisecond radio pulsar PSR J1023+0038 exhibits many characteristics similar to the gamma-ray binary system PSR B1259--63/LS 2883, making it an ideal candidate for the study of high-energy non-thermal emission. It has been the subject of multi-wavelength campaigns following the disappearance of the pulsed radio emission in 2013 June, which revealed the appearance of an accretion disk around the neutron star. We present the results of very high-energy gamma-ray observations carried out by VERITAS before and after this change of state. Searches for steady and pulsed emission of both data sets yield no significant gamma-ray signal above 100 GeV, and upper limits are given for both a steady and pulsed gamma-ray flux. These upper limits are used to constrain the magnetic field strength in the shock region of the PSR J1023+0038 system. Assuming that very high-energy gamma rays are produced via an inverse-Compton mechanism in the shock region, we constrain the shock magnetic field to be greater than 2 G before the disappearance of the radio pulsar and greater than 10 G afterwards.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1609.01692,
title = {A Search for Very High-Energy Gamma Rays from the Missing Link Binary Pulsar J1023+0038 with VERITAS},
author = {E. Aliu and S. Archambault and A. Archer and W. Benbow and R. Bird and J. Biteau and M. Buchovecky and J. H. Buckley and V. Bugaev and K. Byrum and J. V Cardenzana and M. Cerruti and X. Chen and L. Ciupik and M. P. Connolly and W. Cui and H. J. Dickinson and J. D. Eisch and A. Falcone and Q. Feng and J. P. Finley and H. Fleischhack and A. Flinders and P. Fortin and L. Fortson and A. Furniss and G. H. Gillanders and S. Griffin and J. Grube and G. Gyuk and M. Hütten and N. Håkansson and J. Holder and T. B. Humensky and C. A. Johnson and P. Kaaret and P. Kar and N. Kelley-Hoskins and M. Kertzman and D. Kieda and M. Krause and M. J. Lang and A. Loo and G. Maier and S. McArthur and A. McCann and K. Meagher and P. Moriarty and R. Mukherjee and T. Nguyen and D. Nieto and A. O'Faoláin de Bhróithe and R. A. Ong and A. N. Otte and D. Pandel and N. Park and V. Pelassa and A. Petrashyk and M. Pohl and A. Popkow and E. Pueschel and J. Quinn and K. Ragan and P. T. Reynolds and G. T. Richards and E. Roache and C. Rulten and M. Santander and G. H. Sembroski and K. Shahinyan and A. W. Smith and D. Staszak and I. Telezhinsky and J. V. Tucci and J. Tyler and A. Varlotta and S. Vincent and S. P. Wakely and O. M. Weiner and A. Weinstein and A. Wilhelm and D. A. Williams and B. Zitzer and M. Chernyakova and M. Roberts},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.01692},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ