An outburst of GeV gamma-ray emission from centaurus X-3

被引：30

作者：

Vestrand, WT ^{[1
]}

Sreekumar, P ^{[1
]}

Mori, M ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] NASA,GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CTR,HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYS LAB,GREENBELT,MD 20771

来源：

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL | 1997年 / 483卷 / 01期

关键词：

acceleration of particles; binaries; eclipsing; gamma rays; observations; pulsars; individual (Centaurus X-3);

D O I：

10.1086/310722

中图分类号：

P1 [天文学];

学科分类号：

0704 ;

摘要：

We present Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) EGRET measurements of an outburst of greater than 100 MeV gamma-ray emission from the massive X-ray binary system Centaurus X-3 that occurred during an interval of rapid spin-down by the X-ray pulsar. For the 1994 October outburst, the phase-averaged 30 MeV-10 GeV emission is best fitted by a power law with index alpha = 1.81 +/- 0.37 and an integral flux above 100 MeV of (9.2 +/- 2.3) x 10(-7) photons cm(-2) s(-1), corresponding to a phase-averaged luminosity in GeV gamma rays of similar to 5 x 10(36) ergs s(-1). Our phase analysis, employing contemporaneous X-ray pulse observations by CGRO BATSE, indicates modulation of the gamma-ray emission at the pulsar's spin frequency with a significance level higher than 99.5%. Straightforward interpretation of the EGRET measurements requires at least sporadic acceleration of GeV particles within the Cen X-3 binary system. The observations also suggest that Galactic X-ray binary systems may constitute a class of highly variable GeV gamma-ray sources.

引用

页码：L49 / L52

页数：4

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