GAMMA-RAY ACTIVITY IN THE CRAB NEBULA: THE EXCEPTIONAL FLARE OF 2011 APRIL

Buehler, R; Blandford, R D; Charles, E; Chiang, J; Funk, S; Kerr, M; Massaro, F; Romani, R W; Scargle, J D; Baldini, L; Baring, M G; Belfiore, A; Saz Parkinson, P M; D'Ammando, F; Dermer, C D; Grove, J E; Harding, A K; Hays, E; Mazziotta, M N; others, and

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/749/1/26

Title: GAMMA-RAY ACTIVITY IN THE CRAB NEBULA: THE EXCEPTIONAL FLARE OF 2011 APRIL

Journal Article · Tue Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/749/1/26· OSTI ID:22020516

Buehler, R; Blandford, R D; Charles, E; Chiang, J; Funk, S; Kerr, M; Massaro, F; Romani, R W ^[1]; Scargle, J D ^[2]; Baldini, L ^[3]; Baring, M G ^[4]; Belfiore, A; Saz Parkinson, P M ^[5]; D'Ammando, F ^[6]; Dermer, C D; Grove, J E ^[7]; Harding, A K; Hays, E ^[8]; Mazziotta, M N ^[9]; others, and

W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
Space Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 (United States)
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa (Italy)
Rice University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, MS-108, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251 (United States)
Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, Department of Physics and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)
IASF Palermo, 90146 Palermo (Italy)
Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5352 (United States)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, 70126 Bari (Italy)

The Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi satellite observed a gamma-ray flare in the Crab Nebula lasting for approximately nine days in April of 2011. The source, which at optical wavelengths has a size of Almost-Equal-To 11 lt-yr across, doubled its gamma-ray flux within eight hours. The peak photon flux was (186 {+-} 6) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -7} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} above 100 MeV, which corresponds to a 30-fold increase compared to the average value. During the flare, a new component emerged in the spectral energy distribution, which peaked at an energy of (375 {+-} 26) MeV at flare maximum. The observations imply that the emission region was likely relativistically beamed toward us and that variations in its motion are responsible for the observed spectral variability.

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OSTI ID:: 22020516

Journal Information:: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 749, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: GAMMA-RAY ACTIVITY IN THE CRAB NEBULA: THE EXCEPTIONAL FLARE OF 2011 APRIL

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