FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE DETECTION OF PULSED gamma-RAYS FROM THE VELA-LIKE PULSARS PSR J1048-5832 AND PSR J2229+6114

Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/706/2/1331· OSTI ID:21378092

Abdo, A A ^[1]; Ackermann, M; Ajello, M; Bechtol, K; Berenji, B; Bloom, E D; Borgland, A W ^[2]; Atwood, W B ^[3]; Axelsson, M ^[4]; Baldini, L; Bellazzini, R; Bregeon, J; Brez, A ^[5]; Ballet, J ^[6]; Barbiellini, G ^[7]; Baring, M G ^[8]; Bastieri, D ^[9]; Baughman, B M ^[10]; Bonamente, E ^[11]; Brigida, M ^[12]

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1. Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States)
2. 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)
3. 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)
4. Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)
5. Istituto Nazionale di fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa (Italy)
6. Laboratoire AIM, CEA-IRFU/CNRS/Universite Paris Diderot, Service d'Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette (France)
7. Istituto Nazionale di fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, I-34127 Trieste (Italy)
8. Rice University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, MS-108, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251 (United States)
9. Istituto Nazionale di fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova, I-35131 Padova (Italy)
10. Department of Physics, Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
11. Istituto Nazionale di fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia (Italy)
12. Dipartimento di fisica 'M. Merlin' dell'Universita e del Politecnico di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy)

We report the detection of gamma-ray pulsations (>=0.1 GeV) from PSR J2229+6114 and PSR J1048-5832, the latter having been detected as a low-significance pulsar by EGRET. Data in the gamma-ray band were acquired by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, while the radio rotational ephemerides used to fold the gamma-ray light curves were obtained using the Green Bank Telescope, the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank, and the Parkes Telescope. The two young radio pulsars, located within the error circles of the previously unidentified EGRET sources 3EG J1048-5840 and 3EG J2227+6122, present spin-down characteristics similar to the Vela pulsar. PSR J1048-5832 shows two sharp peaks at phases 0.15 +- 0.01 and 0.57 +- 0.01 relative to the radio pulse confirming the EGRET light curve, while PSR J2229+6114 presents a very broad peak at phase 0.49 +- 0.01. The gamma-ray spectra above 0.1 GeV of both pulsars are fit with power laws having exponential cutoffs near 3 GeV, leading to integral photon fluxes of (2.19 +- 0.22 +- 0.32) x 10{sup -7} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} for PSR J1048-5832 and (3.77 +- 0.22 +- 0.44) x 10{sup -7} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} for PSR J2229+6114. The first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. PSR J1048-5832 is one of the two LAT sources which were entangled together as 3EG J1048-5840. These detections add to the growing number of young gamma-ray pulsars that make up the dominant population of GeV gamma-ray sources in the Galactic plane.

• OSTI ID: 21378092
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 706, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/706/2/1331; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COSMIC GAMMA SOURCES
ERRORS
GAMMA RADIATION
GAMMA SPECTRA
GEV RANGE 01-10
INTEGRALS
PULSARS
PULSATIONS
PULSES
QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT
SPIN
TELESCOPES
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY RANGE
GEV RANGE
IONIZING RADIATIONS
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA