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A Luminous and Highly Variable Gamma-Ray Flare Following the 2017 Periastron of PSR B1259–63/LS 2883

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [3];  [5]
  1. George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA (United States). College of Science; Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)
  2. Praxis Inc., Alexandria, VA (United States); Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)
  3. Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States). Space Science Division
  4. Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States). X-ray Astrophysics Lab.; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (United States)
  5. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Lab., Kavli Inst. for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
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Three periastron passages of the PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 binary system, consisting of a 48 ms rotation-powered pulsar and a Be star, have been observed by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, in 2010, 2014, and 2017. During the most recent periastron passage, sustained low-level gamma-ray emission was observed over a ~3-week-long interval immediately after periastron, which was followed by an interval of no emission. Sporadic flares were detected starting 40 days post-periastron and lasted approximately 50 days, during which the emission displayed significant spectral curvature, variability on timescales as short as 1.5 minutes, and peak flux levels well in excess of the pulsar spin-down power. By contrast, during the 2010 and 2014 periastron passages, significant gamma-ray emission was not observed with the LAT until 30 and 32 days post-periastron, respectively. The previous flares did not exhibit spectral curvature, showed no short term variability, and did not exceed the pulsar spin-down power. The high flux and short timescales observed in 2017 suggest significant beaming of the emission is required and constrain the size of the emission region. Finally, the flares occur long enough after periastron that the neutron star should already have passed through the extended disk-like outflow, thus constraining options for target material and seed photon sources for inverse Compton models.
Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Centre National d'Études Spatiales, France; Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy; USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1468728
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 863; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (14)

Overview of non-transient γ -ray binaries and prospects for the Cherenkov Telescope Array journal November 2019
H.E.S.S. and Fermi -LAT observations of PSR B1259–63/LS 2883 during its 2014 and 2017 periastron passages journal January 2020
Modelling the interaction between relativistic and non-relativistic winds in binary pulsar systems: strong magnetization of the pulsar wind journal October 2019
First detection of PSR B1259−63/LS 2883 in the millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths with ALMA journal August 2019
Discovery of the Galactic High-Mass Gamma-ray Binary 4FGL J1405.1-6119 collection January 2019
H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT observations of PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 during its 2014 and 2017 periastron passages text January 2019
X-Ray and Radio Variabilities of PSR J2032+4127 near Periastron journal August 2019
X-Ray Spectral Evolution of PSR J2032+4127 during the 2017 Periastron Passage journal August 2019
Evolution of the Extended X-Ray Emission from the PSR B1259–63/LS 2883 Binary in the 2014–2017 Binary Cycle journal September 2019
Discovery of the Galactic High-mass Gamma-Ray Binary 4FGL J1405.1−6119 journal October 2019
Multiscale Time- and Frequency-domain Likelihood Analysis with Photon Weights journal November 2019
Overview of non-transient gamma-ray binaries and prospects for the Cherenkov Telescope Array text January 2019
Modelling the interaction between relativistic and non-relativistic winds in binary pulsar systems: strong magnetization of the pulsar wind text January 2019
H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT observations of PSR B1259–63/LS 2883 during its 2014 and 2017 periastron passages text January 2020

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
gamma-rays: stars
pulsars: individual (PSR B1259-63)