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Register a new userOrbital Modulation of Gamma Rays from PSR~J2339$-$0533
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We report on orbital modulation of the 100-600 MeV gamma-ray emission of the $P_{rm B}=4.6$ hr millisecond pulsar binary PSR J2339$-$0533 using 11 yr of Fermi Large Area Telescope data. The modulation has high significance (chance probability $papprox 10^{-7}$), is approximately sinusoidal, peaks near pulsar superior conjunction, and is detected only in the low-energy 100-600 MeV band. The modulation is confined to the on-pulse interval, suggesting that the variation is in the 2.9-ms pulsed signal itself. This contrasts with the few other known systems exhibiting GeV orbital modulations, as these are unpulsed and generally associated with beamed emission from an intrabinary shock. The origin of the modulated pulsed signal is not yet clear, although we describe several scenarios, including Compton upscattering of photons from the heated companion. This would require high coherence in the striped pulsar wind.
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We analyze photometry and spectra of the redback millisecond pulsar binary J2339$-$0533. These observations include new measurements from Keck and GROND, as well as archival measurements from the OISTER, WIYN, SOAR, and HET telescopes. The parameters derived from GROND, our primary photometric data, describe well the rest of the datasets, raising our confidence in our fitted binary properties. Our fit requires hot-spots (likely magnetic poles) on the surface of the companion star, and we see evidence that these spots move over the 8 yr span of our photometry. The derived binary inclination $i = 69.3^circpm 2.3^circ$, together with the center-of-mass velocity (from the radial-velocity fits) $K_{rm C} = 347.0pm 3.7,$ $mathrm{km,s}^{-1}$, give a fairly typical neutron star mass of $1.47pm 0.09,M_odot$.
Observations made with the University of Durham Mark 6 atmospheric Cerenkov telescope confirm that PSR B1706-44 is a very high energy gamma-ray emitter. There is no indication from our dataset that the very high energy gamma-rays are pulsed, in contrast to the findings at < 20 GeV, which indicate that more than 80% of the flux is pulsed. The flux at E > 300 GeV is estimated to be (3.9 +/- 0.7 (statistical)) x 10^-11 cm^-2 s^-1.
Observation by the CANGAROO-III stereoscopic system of the Imaging Cherenkov Telescope has detected extended emission of TeV gamma rays in the vicinity of the pulsar PSR B1706$-$44. The strength of the signal observed as gamma-ray-like events varies when we apply different ways of emulating background events. The reason for such uncertainties is argued in relevance to gamma-rays embedded in the off-source data, that is, unknown sources and diffuse emission in the Galactic plane, namely, the existence of a complex structure of TeV gamma-ray emission around PSR B1706$-$44.
Context: Cosmic rays are thought to be accelerated at supernova remnant (SNR) shocks, but conclusive evidence is lacking. Aims: New data from ground-based gamma-ray telescopes and the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope are used to test this hypothesis. A simple model for gamma-ray production efficiency is compared with measured gamma-ray luminosities of SNRs, and the GeV to TeV fluxes ratios of SNRs are examined for correlations with SNR ages. Methods: The supernova explosion is modeled as an expanding spherical shell of material that sweeps up matter from the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM). The accumulated kinetic energy of the shell, which provides the energy available for nonthermal particle acceleration, changes when matter is swept up from the ISM and the SNR shell decelerates. A fraction of this energy is assumed to be converted into the energy of cosmic-ray electrons or protons. Three different particle radiation processes---nuclear pion-production interactions, nonthermal electron bremsstrahlung, and Compton scattering---are considered. Results: The efficiencies for gamma-ray production by these three processes are compared with gamma-ray luminosities of SNRs. Our results suggest that SNRs become less gamma-ray luminous at >~ 10^4 yr, and are consistent with the hypothesis that supernova remnants accelerate cosmic rays with an efficiency of ~10% for the dissipation of kinetic energy into nonthermal cosmic rays. Weak evidence for an increasing GeV to TeV flux ratio with SNR age is found.
SPI on INTEGRAL has provided spectra and a map of the sky in the emission from annihilations of positrons in the interstellar medium of our Galaxy. From high-resolution spectra we learned that a warm, partially-ionized medium is the site where the observed gamma-rays originate. The gamma-ray emission map shows a major puzzle for broader astrophysics topics, as it is dominated by a bright and extended apparently spherical emission region centered in the Galaxys center. Only recently has the disk of the Galaxy been detected with SPI. This may be regarded as confirmation of earlier expectations that positrons should arise predominantly from sources of nucleosynthesis distributed throughout the plane of the Galaxy, which produce proton-rich unstable isotopes. But there are other plausible sources of positrons, among them pulsars and accreting binaries such as microquasars. SPI results may be interpreted also as hints that these are more significant as positron sources on the Galactic scale than thought before, in the plane and therefore also in the bulge of the Galaxy. This is part of the attempt to understand the surprisingly-bright emission from the central region in the Galaxy, which otherwise also could be interpreted as a first rather direct detection of dark matter annihilations in the Galaxys gravitational well. INTEGRAL has a unique potential to shed light on the various aspects of positron astrophysics, through its capability for imaging spectroscopy.
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