Search for gamma-ray emission from AE Aquarii with seven year of Fermi LAT observations
AE Aquarii (AE Aqr) is a cataclysmic binary hosting one of the fastest rotating ($${P}_{\mathrm{spin}}$$ = 33.08 s) white dwarfs (WDs) known. Based on seven years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) Pass 8 data, we report on a deep search for gamma-ray emission from AE Aqr. When using X-ray observations from ASCA, XMM-Newton, Chandra, Swift, Suzaku, and NuSTAR, spanning 20 years, we substantially extend and improve the spin ephemeris of AE Aqr. Using this ephemeris, we searched for gamma-ray pulsations at the spin period of the WD. We detected no gamma-ray pulsations above 3σ significance. Neither phase-averaged gamma-ray emission nor gamma-ray variability of AE Aqr is detected by Fermi LAT. We also impose the most restrictive upper limit to the gamma-ray flux from AE Aqr to date: $$1.3\times {10}^{-12}$$ erg cm -2 s -1 in the 100 MeV–300 GeV energy range, providing constraints on models.
- Authors:
-
[1] ;
[2] ;
[3] ; [1]; [4]; [5]; [6]
- Inst. of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona (Spain)
- Inst. of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona (Spain); Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona (Spain)
- Inst. of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona (Spain); Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA)
- National Inst. of Astrophysics (INAF), Rome (Italy). Astronomical Observatory of Rome
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Key Lab. for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-692097
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515; AC52-07NA27344
- Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 832; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Research Org:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org:
- USDOE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; gamma rays: stars; novae; cataclysmic variables; x-rays: individual (AE Aquarii)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1355715
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1368012