Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

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

Abstract

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 themore » extended disk-like outflow, thus constraining options for target material and seed photon sources for inverse Compton models.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [5]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  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
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy; Centre National d'Études Spatiales, France
OSTI Identifier:
1468728
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 863; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; gamma-rays: stars; pulsars: individual (PSR B1259-63)

Citation Formats

Johnson, T. J., Wood, K. S., Kerr, M., Corbet, R. H. D., Cheung, C. C., Ray, P. S., and Omodei, N. A Luminous and Highly Variable Gamma-Ray Flare Following the 2017 Periastron of PSR B1259–63/LS 2883. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aad185.
Copy to clipboard
Johnson, T. J., Wood, K. S., Kerr, M., Corbet, R. H. D., Cheung, C. C., Ray, P. S., & Omodei, N. A Luminous and Highly Variable Gamma-Ray Flare Following the 2017 Periastron of PSR B1259–63/LS 2883. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aad185
Copy to clipboard
Johnson, T. J., Wood, K. S., Kerr, M., Corbet, R. H. D., Cheung, C. C., Ray, P. S., and Omodei, N. Wed . "A Luminous and Highly Variable Gamma-Ray Flare Following the 2017 Periastron of PSR B1259–63/LS 2883". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aad185. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1468728.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1468728,
title = {A Luminous and Highly Variable Gamma-Ray Flare Following the 2017 Periastron of PSR B1259–63/LS 2883},
author = {Johnson, T. J. and Wood, K. S. and Kerr, M. and Corbet, R. H. D. and Cheung, C. C. and Ray, P. S. and Omodei, N.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aad185},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
number = 1,
volume = 863,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 08 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Aug 08 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aad185
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 22 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE THIRD SOURCE CATALOG
journal, June 2015

  • Acero, F.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 218, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/218/2/23

Modulated High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from the Microquasar Cygnus X-3
journal, November 2009

Multiwavelength observations of the binary system PSR B1259−63/LS 2883 around the 2010–2011 periastron passage
journal, January 2014

  • Chernyakova, M.; Abdo, A. A.; Neronov, A.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 439, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stu021

Relativistic Doppler-boosted emission in gamma-ray binaries
journal, June 2010

Discovery of the binary pulsar PSR B1259-63 in very-high-energy gamma rays around periastron with HESS
journal, September 2005

Stellar wind and stellar disc models of dispersion and rotation measure variations in the PSR B1259 – 63/SS2883 binary system
journal, July 1995

  • Melatos, A.; Johnston, S.; Melrose, D. B.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 275, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/275.2.381

The Likelihood Analysis of EGRET Data
journal, April 1996

  • Mattox, J. R.; Bertsch, D. L.; Chiang, J.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 461
  • DOI: 10.1086/177068

What caused the GeV flare of PSR B1259-63?
journal, September 2013

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODEL OF GALACTIC INTERSTELLAR EMISSION FOR STANDARD POINT-SOURCE ANALYSIS OF FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE DATA
journal, April 2016

  • Acero, F.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 223, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/0067-0049/223/2/26

The kinematics and orbital dynamics of the PSR B1259−63/LS 2883 system from 23 yr of pulsar timing
journal, December 2013

  • Shannon, R. M.; Johnston, S.; Manchester, R. N.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 437, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stt2123

THE SECOND FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE CATALOG OF GAMMA-RAY PULSARS
journal, September 2013

  • Abdo, A. A.; Ajello, M.; Allafort, A.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 208, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/208/2/17

PSR 1259-63 - A binary radio pulsar with a Be star companion
journal, March 1992

  • Johnston, Simon; Manchester, R. N.; Lyne, A. G.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 387
  • DOI: 10.1086/186300

The geometric distance and binary orbit of PSR B1259–63
journal, July 2018

  • Miller-Jones, J. C. A.; Deller, A. T.; Shannon, R. M.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 479, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty1775

DISCOVERY OF HIGH-ENERGY GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM THE BINARY SYSTEM PSR B1259–63/LS 2883 AROUND PERIASTRON WITH FERMI
journal, June 2011

MINUTE-TIMESCALE >100 MeV γ -RAY VARIABILITY DURING THE GIANT OUTBURST OF QUASAR 3C 279 OBSERVED BY FERMI -LAT IN 2015 JUNE
journal, June 2016

THE LARGE AREA TELESCOPE ON THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY SPACE TELESCOPE MISSION
journal, May 2009

Gamma-Ray Flare Activity from psr B1259–63 During 2014 Periastron Passage and Comparison to its 2010 Passage
journal, September 2015

A Luminous Gamma-Ray Binary in the Large Magellanic Cloud
journal, September 2016

Post-Periastron Gamma-Ray Flare from psr B1259–63/Ls 2883 as a Result of Comptonization of the cold Pulsar wind
journal, May 2012

  • Khangulyan, Dmitry; Aharonian, Felix A.; Bogovalov, Sergey V.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 752, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/752/1/L17

Modeling the Multiwavelength Light Curves of psr B1259-63/Ls 2883. ii. the Effects of Anisotropic Pulsar wind and Doppler Boosting
journal, June 2012

Astrophysical Parameters of ls 2883 and Implications for the psr B1259-63 Gamma-Ray Binary
journal, April 2011

DISCOVERY OF GeV γ-RAY EMISSION FROM PSR B1259–63/LS 2883
journal, June 2011

HIGH-ENERGY OBSERVATIONS OF PSR B1259–63/LS 2883 THROUGH THE 2014 PERIASTRON PASSAGE: CONNECTING X-RAYS TO THE GeV FLARE
journal, December 2014

The Second Fermi Large area Telescope Catalog of Gamma-Ray Pulsars
text, January 2013

  • Abdo, A. A.; Ajello, M.; Allafort, A.
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/desy-2014-00864

Development of the Model of Galactic Interstellar Emission for Standard Point-Source Analysis of FERMI Large Area Telescope Data
text, January 2016

  • Acero, F.; Ackermann, Markus; Ajello, M.
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2016-06164

Minute-Timescale > 100 MeV $\gamma$-Ray Variability During the Giant Outburst of Quasar 3C 279 Observed by FERMI-LAT in 2015 June
text, January 2016

  • Ackermann, Markus; Anantua, R.; Asano, K.
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2016-06149

Relativistic Doppler-boosted emission in gamma-ray binaries
text, January 2010

Discovery of GeV gamma-ray emission from PSR B1259-63/LS 2883
text, January 2011

Astrophysical parameters of LS2883 and implications for the PSR B1259-63 gamma-ray binary
text, January 2011

What caused the GeV flare of PSR B1259-63 ?
text, January 2013

A Luminous Gamma-ray Binary in the Large Magellanic Cloud
text, January 2016

The geometric distance and binary orbit of PSR B1259-63
text, January 2018

    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Modelling the interaction between relativistic and non-relativistic winds in binary pulsar systems: strong magnetization of the pulsar wind
    journal, October 2019

    • Bogovalov, S. V.; Khangulyan, D.; Koldoba, A.
    • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 490, Issue 3
    • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz2815

    Multiscale Time- and Frequency-domain Likelihood Analysis with Photon Weights
    journal, November 2019

    X-Ray Spectral Evolution of PSR J2032+4127 during the 2017 Periastron Passage
    journal, August 2019

    • Pal, Partha Sarathi; Tam, P. H. T.; Cui, Y.
    • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 882, Issue 1
    • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab31a7

    First detection of PSR B1259−63/LS 2883 in the millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths with ALMA
    journal, August 2019

    • Fujita, Yutaka; Kawachi, Akiko; Akahori, Takuya
    • Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Vol. 71, Issue 5
    • DOI: 10.1093/pasj/psz085

    Evolution of the Extended X-Ray Emission from the PSR B1259–63/LS 2883 Binary in the 2014–2017 Binary Cycle
    journal, September 2019

    • Hare, Jeremy; Kargaltsev, Oleg; Pavlov, George
    • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 882, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab3648

    Overview of non-transient γ -ray binaries and prospects for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
    journal, November 2019

    X-Ray and Radio Variabilities of PSR J2032+4127 near Periastron
    journal, August 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

    Discovery of the Galactic High-mass Gamma-Ray Binary 4FGL J1405.1−6119
    journal, October 2019

    Discovery of the Galactic High-Mass Gamma-ray Binary 4FGL J1405.1-6119
    collection, January 2019

    • Corbet, R. H. D.; Chomiuk, L.; Coe, M. J.
    • Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
    • DOI: 10.13016/m2yoip-ppsg

    H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT observations of PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 during its 2014 and 2017 periastron passages
    text, January 2019

    • Collaboration, H. E. S. S.; Abdalla, H.; Adam, R.
    • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
    • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2020-00085
      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: