Pulsed high-energy gamma rays from the Crab Nebula
The Cornell 100-inch gas-Cerenkov gamma -ray telescope has detected pulsed radiation at hundreds of MeV, up to more than 1 GeV, coincident in time with the optical pulses from NP 0532, and in direction within 1 deg of the Crab Nebula. Two spectral points lie on an extension of the pulsed X-ray spectrum: the expression 0.95E/sup -1.08/ keV cm/sup -2/ s/sup -1/ keV/sup -1/ fits a synthesis of the data from 5 keV to 10/s up 6/ keV. The main pulse and the secondary pulse contain about equal numbers of events and show evidence of being narrower ihan at lower energies. There is weak evidence for further pulse structure in the interval between these two peaks, and also for an unmodulated gamma -ray component about equal to the time-averaged pulsed flux. The pulsar and nebular spectra appear to steepen somewhere between 1.5 and 150 GeV. No pulsed flux from NP 0525 was detectable in this flight. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- NSA Number:
- NSA-29-021929
- OSTI ID:
- 4348073
- Journal Information:
- Astrophys. J., v. 184, no. 2, pp. 571-580, Journal Name: Astrophys. J., v. 184, no. 2, pp. 571-580; ISSN ASJOA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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