Detection of Pulsed Gamma Rays Above 100 GeV from the Crab Pulsar
Abstract
We report the detection of pulsed gamma rays from the Crab pulsar at energies above 100 Gigaelectronvolts (GeV) with the VERITAS array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The detection cannot be explained on the basis of current pulsar models. The photon spectrum of pulsed emission between 100 Megaelectronvolts (MeV) and 400 GeV is described by a broken power law that is statistically preferred over a power law with an exponential cutoff. It is unlikely that the observation can be explained by invoking curvature radiation as the origin of the observed gamma rays above 100 GeV. Our findings require that these gamma rays be produced more than 10 stellar radii from the neutron star.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1108.3797,
title = {Detection of Pulsed Gamma Rays Above 100 GeV from the Crab Pulsar},
author = {VERITAS Collaboration and E. Aliu and T. Arlen and T. Aune and M. Beilicke and W. Benbow and A. Bouvier and S. M. Bradbury and J. H. Buckley and V. Bugaev and K. Byrum and A. Cannon and A. Cesarini and J. L. Christiansen and L. Ciupik and E. Collins-Hughes and M. P. Connolly and W. Cui and R. Dickherber and C. Duke and M. Errando and A. Falcone and J. P. Finley and G. Finnegan and L. Fortson and A. Furniss and N. Galante and D. Gall and K. Gibbs and G. H. Gillanders and S. Godambe and S. Griffin and J. Grube and R. Guenette and G. Gyuk and D. Hanna and J. Holder and H. Huan and G. Hughes and C. M. Hui and T. B. Humensky and A. Imran and P. Kaaret and N. Karlsson and M. Kertzman and D. Kieda and H. Krawczynski and F. Krennrich and M. J. Lang and M. Lyutikov and A. S Madhavan and G. Maier and P. Majumdar and S. McArthur and A. McCann and M. McCutcheon and P. Moriarty and R. Mukherjee and P. Nuñez and R. A. Ong and M. Orr and A. N. Otte and N. Park and J. S. Perkins and F. Pizlo and M. Pohl and H. Prokoph and J. Quinn and K. Ragan and L. C. Reyes and P. T. Reynolds and E. Roache and J. Rose and J. Ruppel and D. B. Saxon and M. Schroedter and G. H. Sembroski and G. D. Şentürk and A. W. Smith and D. Staszak and G. Tešić and M. Theiling and S. Thibadeau and K. Tsurusaki and J. Tyler and A. Varlotta and V. V. Vassiliev and S. Vincent and M. Vivier and S. P. Wakely and J. E. Ward and T. C. Weekes and A. Weinstein and T. Weisgarber and D. A. Williams and B. Zitzer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1108.3797},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
17 pages, corresponding authors: Nepomuk Otte [email protected]; Andrew McCann [email protected]; Martin Schroedter [email protected]