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Title: Rapid gamma-ray flux variability during the 2013 March Crab Nebula flare

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [5];  [6]
  1. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
  2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  3. Naval Research Lab., Washington, D. C. (United States)
  4. Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, D. C. (United States)
  5. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States). SLAC National Accelerator Lab.
  6. ORAU/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States); Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, D. C. (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Here, we report on a bright flare in the Crab Nebula detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The period of significantly increased luminosity occurred in 2013 March and lasted for approximately two weeks. During this period, we observed flux variability on timescales of approximately 5 hr. The combined photon flux above 100 MeV from the pulsar and its nebula reached a peak value of (12.5 ± 0.8) • 10–6 cm–2 s–1 on 2013 March 6. This value exceeds the average flux by almost a factor of six and implies a ~20 times higher flux for the synchrotron component of the nebula alone. This is the second brightest flare observed from this source. Spectral and temporal analysis of the LAT data collected during the outburst reveal a rapidly varying synchrotron component of the Crab Nebula while the pulsar emission remains constant in time.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1356562
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal. Letters, Vol. 775, Issue 2; ISSN 2041-8205
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 26 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

Modelling Jets, Tori and Flares in Pulsar Wind Nebulae journal March 2017
Bursts of the Crab Nebula gamma-ray emission at high and ultra-high energies journal January 2017
The imprint of pulsar parameters on the morphology of Pulsar Wind Nebulae journal July 2016
Physics of the saturation of particle acceleration in relativistic magnetic reconnection journal February 2018
Bursts of the Crab Nebula gamma-ray emission at high and ultra-high energies journal January 2017
The imprint of pulsar parameters on the morphology of Pulsar Wind Nebulae text January 2016
Modelling Jets, Tori and Flares in Pulsar Wind Nebulae text January 2017
Broadband X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Crab Nebula and Pulsar with NuSTAR text January 2015
Physics of the saturation of particle acceleration in relativistic magnetic reconnection text January 2017

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
gamma rays: stars
ISM: supernova remnants
pulsars: individual (Crab)
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal