No Arabic abstract
We report the detection of gamma-ray pulsations from the high-magnetic-field rotation-powered pulsar PSR J1119-6127 using data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. The gamma-ray light curve of PSR J1119-6127 shows a single, wide peak offset from the radio peak by 0.43 pm 0.02 in phase. Spectral analysis suggests a power law of index 1.0 pm 0.3 with an energy cut-off at 0.8 pm 0.2 GeV. The first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. We discuss the emission models of PSR J1119-6127 and demonstrate that despite the objects high surface magnetic field---near that of magnetars---the field strength and structure in the gamma-ray emitting zone are apparently similar to those of typical young pulsars. Additionally, we present upper limits on the gam-ray pulsed emission for the magnetically active PSR J1846-0258 in the supernova remnant Kesteven 75 and two other energetic high-B pulsars, PSRs J1718-3718 and J1734-3333. We explore possible explanations for the non-detection of these three objects, including peculiarities in their emission geometry.
We report on the gamma-ray observations of giant molecular clouds Orion A and B with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The gamma-ray emission in the energy band between sim100 MeV and sim100 GeV is predicted to trace the gas mass distribution in the clouds through nuclear interactions between the Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) and interstellar gas. The gamma-ray production cross-section for the nuclear interaction is known to sim10% precision which makes the LAT a powerful tool to measure the gas mass column density distribution of molecular clouds for a known CR intensity. We present here such distributions for Orion A and B, and correlate them with those of the velocity integrated CO intensity (WCO) at a 1{deg} times1{deg} pixel level. The correlation is found to be linear over a WCO range of ~10 fold when divided in 3 regions, suggesting penetration of nuclear CRs to most of the cloud volumes. The Wco-to-mass conversion factor, Xco, is found to be sim2.3times10^20 cm-2(K km s-1)-1 for the high-longitude part of Orion A (l > 212{deg}), sim1.7 times higher than sim1.3 times 10^20 found for the rest of Orion A and B. We interpret the apparent high Xco in the high-longitude region of Orion A in the light of recent works proposing a non-linear relation between H2 and CO densities in the diffuse molecular gas. Wco decreases faster than the H2 column density in the region making the gas darker to Wco.
We report on gamma-ray observations in the off-pulse window of the Vela pulsar PSR B0833-45, using 11 months of survey data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). This pulsar is located in the 8 degree diameter Vela supernova remnant, which contains several regions of non-thermal emission detected in the radio, X-ray and gamma-ray bands. The gamma-ray emission detected by the LAT lies within one of these regions, the 2*3 degrees area south of the pulsar known as Vela-X. The LAT flux is signicantly spatially extended with a best-fit radius of 0.88 +/- 0.12 degrees for an assumed radially symmetric uniform disk. The 200 MeV to 20 GeV LAT spectrum of this source is well described by a power-law with a spectral index of 2.41 +/- 0.09 +/- 0.15 and integral flux above 100 MeV of (4.73 +/- 0.63 +/- 1.32) * 10^{-7} cm^{-2} s^{-1}. The first errors represent the statistical error on the fit parameters, while the second ones are the systematic uncertainties. Detailed morphological and spectral analyses give strong constraints on the energetics and magnetic field of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) system and favor a scenario with two distinct electron populations.
The inner region of the Milky Way is one of the most interesting and complex regions of the gamma-ray sky. The intense interstellar emission and resolved point sources, as well as potential contributions by other sources such as unresolved source populations and dark matter, complicate the interpretation of the data. In this paper the Fermi LAT team analysis of a 15x15 degree region about the Galactic centre is described. The methodology for point-source detection and treatment of the interstellar emission is given. In general, the bulk of the gamma-ray emission from this region is attributable to a combination of these two contributions. However, low-intensity residual emission remains and its characterisation is discussed.
We present an analysis of the gamma-ray measurements by the Large Area Telescope onboard the textit{Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope} in the region of the supernova remnant~(SNR) Monoceros Loop~(G205.5$+$0.5). The brightest gamma-ray peak is spatially correlated with the Rosette Nebula, which is a molecular cloud complex adjacent to the southeast edge of the SNR. After subtraction of this emission by spatial modeling, the gamma-ray emission from the SNR emerges, which is extended and fit by a Gaussian spatial template. The gamma-ray spectra are significantly better reproduced by a curved shape than a simple power law. The luminosities between 0.2--300~GeV are $sim$~$4 times 10^{34}$~erg~s$^{-1}$ for the SNR and $sim$~$3 times 10^{34}$~erg~s$^{-1}$ for the Rosette Nebula, respectively. We argue that the gamma rays likely originate from the interactions of particles accelerated in the SNR. The decay of neutral pions produced in nucleon-nucleon interactions of accelerated hadrons with interstellar gas provides a reasonable explanation for the gamma-ray emission of both the Rosette Nebula and the Monoceros SNR.
The LAT instrument on the Fermi mission will reveal the rich spectral and temporal gamma-ray burst phenomena in the > 100 MeV band. The synergy with Fermis GBM detectors will link these observations to those in the well explored 10-1000 keV range; the addition of the > 100 MeV band observations will resolve theoretical uncertainties about burst emission in both the prompt and afterglow phases. Trigger algorithms will be applied to the LAT data both onboard the spacecraft and on the ground. The sensitivity of these triggers will differ because of the available computing resources onboard and on the ground. Here we present the LATs burst detection methodologies and the instruments GRB capabilities.