CONSTRAINTS ON THE GALACTIC POPULATION OF TeV PULSAR WIND NEBULAE USING FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS

Journal Article · Sat Aug 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/773/1/77· OSTI ID:22131021

Acero, F.; Brandt, T. J. ^[1]; Ackermann, M. ^[2]; Ajello, M. ^[3]; Allafort, A.; Bechtol, K.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.; Bottacini, E.; Buehler, R. ^[4]; Baldini, L. ^[5]; Ballet, J. ^[6]; Barbiellini, G. ^[7]; Bastieri, D.; Buson, S. ^[8]; Bellazzini, R.; Bregeon, J. ^[9]; Bonamente, E. ^[10]; Brigida, M. ^[11]; others, and

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1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
2. Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY, D-15738 Zeuthen (Germany)
3. Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450 (United States)
4. 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)
5. Universita di Pisa and 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, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette (France)
7. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, I-34127 Trieste (Italy)
8. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova, I-35131 Padova (Italy)
9. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa (Italy)
10. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia (Italy)
11. Dipartimento di Fisica ''M. Merlin'' dell'Universita e del Politecnico di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy)

Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) have been established as the most populous class of TeV {gamma}-ray emitters. Since launch, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has identified five high-energy (100 MeV < E < 100 GeV) {gamma}-ray sources as PWNe and detected a large number of PWN candidates, all powered by young and energetic pulsars. The wealth of multi-wavelength data available and the new results provided by Fermi-LAT give us an opportunity to find new PWNe and to explore the radiative processes taking place in known ones. The TeV {gamma}-ray unidentified (UNID) sources are the best candidates for finding new PWNe. Using 45 months of Fermi-LAT data for energies above 10 GeV, an analysis was performed near the position of 58 TeV PWNe and UNIDs within 5 Degree-Sign of the Galactic plane to establish new constraints on PWN properties and find new clues on the nature of UNIDs. Of the 58 sources, 30 were detected, and this work provides their {gamma}-ray fluxes for energies above 10 GeV. The spectral energy distributions and upper limits, in the multi-wavelength context, also provide new information on the source nature and can help distinguish between emission scenarios, i.e., between classification as a pulsar candidate or as a PWN candidate. Six new GeV PWN candidates are described in detail and compared with existing models. A population study of GeV PWN candidates as a function of the pulsar/PWN system characteristics is presented.

• OSTI ID: 22131021
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 773, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAMMA RADIATION
LIMITING VALUES
NEBULAE
PULSARS
STELLAR WINDS
TELESCOPES
TEV RANGE
WAVELENGTHS