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Register a new userGamma-ray flare activity from PSR B1259-63 during 2014 periastron passage and comparison to its 2010 passage
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PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 is a gamma-ray binary system containing a radio pulsar in a highly elliptical ~3.4-year orbit around a Be star. In its 2010 periastron passage, multiwavelength emission from radio to TeV was observed, as well as an unexpected GeV flare measured by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Here, we report the results of LAT monitoring of PSR B1259-63 during its most recent 2014 periastron passage. We compare the gamma-ray behavior in this periastron with the former in 2010 and find that PSR B1259-63 shows a recurrent GeV flare. The similarities and differences in the phenomenology of both periastron passages are discussed.
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PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 is a binary system consisting of a 48 ms pulsar orbitting around a Be star with an orbital period of ~3.4 years. The system was detected at very high energies (VHE; E > 100 GeV) by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) during its periastron passages in 2004 and 2007. Here we present new H.E.S.S. observations corresponding to its last periastron passage, which occurred on December 15th 2010. These new observations partially overlap with the beginning of a spectacular gamma-ray flare reported by the Fermi-LAT. The H.E.S.S. observations show both flux and spectral properties similar to those reported in previous periastron passages, without any signature of the emission enhancement seen at GeV energies. A careful statistical study based on the Fermi and H.E.S.S. lightcurves leads to the conclusion that the GeV and TeV emission during the flare have a different physical origin. This conlusion, in turn, allows to use Fermi-LAT measurements of the GeV flux as upper limits for the modeling of the VHE emission.
The binary system PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 is well sampled in radio, X-rays, and TeV gamma-rays, and shows orbital phase-dependent variability in these frequencies. The first detection of GeV gamma-rays from the system was made around the 2010 periastron passage. In this Letter, we present an analysis of X-ray and gamma-ray data obtained by the Swift/XRT, NuSTAR/FPM, and Fermi/LAT, through the recent periastron passage which occurred on 2014 May 4. While PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 was not detected by the LAT before and during this passage, we show that the GeV flares occurred at a similar orbital phase as in early 2011, thus establishing the repetitive nature of the post-periastron GeV flares. Multiple flares each lasting for a few days have been observed and short-term variability is seen as well. We also found X-ray flux variation contemporaneous with the GeV flare for the first time. A strong evidence of the keV-to-GeV connection came from the broadband high-energy spectra, which we interpret as synchrotron radiation from the shocked pulsar wind.
Aim. In this paper we present very high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) data from the gamma-ray binary system PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 taken around its periastron passage (15th of December 2010) with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) of Cherenkov Telescopes. We aim to search for a possible TeV counterpart of the GeV flare detected by the Fermi LAT. In addition, we aim to study the current periastron passage in the context of previous observations taken at similar orbital phases, testing the repetitive behavior of the source. Methods. Observations at VHE were conducted with H.E.S.S. from 9th to 16th of January 2011. The total dataset amounts to around 6 h of observing time. Results. The source is detected in the 2011 data at a significance level of 11.5sigma revealing an averaged integral flux above 1 TeV of (1.01 pm 0.18_{stat} pm 0.20_{sys}) times 10^{-12} cm^{-2}s^{-1}. The differential energy spectrum follows a power-law shape with a spectral index Gamma = 2.92 pm 0.30_{stat} pm 0.20_{sys} and a flux normalisation at 1 TeV of N_{0} = 1.95 pm 0.32_{stat} pm 0.39_{sys}) times 10^{-12} TeV^{-1} cm^{-2} s^{-1}. The measured lightcurve does not show any evidence for variability of the source on the daily scale. Conclusions. The measured integral flux and the spectral shape of the 2011 data are compatible with the results obtained around previous periastron passages. The absence of variability in the H.E.S.S. data indicates that the GeV flare observed by Fermi LAT in the time period covered also by H.E.S.S. observations originates in a different physical scenario than the TeV emission. Additionaly, new results compared to those obtained in the observations which were performed in 2004 at a similar orbital phase, further support the hypothesis of the repetitive behavior of the source.
We report on broad multi-wavelength observations of the 2010-2011 periastron passage of the gamma-ray loud binary system PSR B1259-63. High resolution interferometric radio observations establish extended radio emission trailing the position of the pulsar. Observations with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveal GeV gamma-ray flaring activity of the system, reaching the spin-down luminosity of the pulsar, around 30 days after periastron. There are no clear signatures of variability at radio, X-ray and TeV energies at the time of the GeV flare. Variability around periastron in the H$alpha$ emission line, can be interpreted as the gravitational interaction between the pulsar and the circumstellar disk. The equivalent width of the H$alpha$ grows from a few days before periastron until a few days later, and decreases again between 18 and 46 days after periastron. In near infrared we observe the similar decrease of the equivalent width of Br$gamma$ line between the 40th and 117th day after the periastron. For the idealized disk, the variability of the H$alpha$ line represents the variability of the mass and size of the disk. We discuss possible physical relations between the state of the disk and GeV emission under assumption that GeV flare is directly related to the decrease of the disk size.
PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 is a gamma-ray binary system consisting of a pulsar in an eccentric orbit around a bright Oe stellar-type companion star that features a dense circumstellar disc. The high- and very-high-energy (HE, VHE) gamma-ray emission from PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 around the times of its periastron passage are characterised, in particular, at the time of the HE gamma-ray flares reported to have occurred in 2011, 2014, and 2017. Spectra and light curves were derived from observations conducted with the H.E.S.S.-II array in 2014 and 2017. A local double-peak profile with asymmetric peaks in the VHE light curve is measured, with a flux minimum at the time of periastron $t_p$ and two peaks coinciding with the times at which the neutron star crosses the companions circumstellar disc ($sim t_p pm 16$ d). A high VHE gamma-ray flux is also observed at the times of the HE gamma-ray flares ($sim t_p + 30$ d) and at phases before the first disc crossing ($sim t_p - 35$ d). PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 displays periodic flux variability at VHE gamma-rays without clear signatures of super-orbital modulation in the time span covered by H.E.S.S. observations. In contrast, the photon index of the measured power-law spectra remains unchanged within uncertainties for about 200 d around periastron. Lower limits on exponential cut-off energies up to $sim 40$ TeV are placed. At HE gamma-rays, PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 has now been detected also before and after periastron, close to the disc crossing times. Repetitive flares with distinct variability patterns are detected in this energy range. Such outbursts are not observed at VHEs, although a relatively high emission level is measured. The spectra obtained in both energy regimes displays a similar slope, although a common physical origin either in terms of a related particle population, emission mechanism, or emitter location is ruled out.
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