Resolving the Crab pulsar wind nebula at teraelectronvolt energies

被引:33
作者
Abdalla, H. [1 ]
Aharonian, F. [2 ,3 ,4 ]
Ait Benkhali, F. [2 ]
Anguner, E. O. [5 ]
Arakawa, M. [6 ]
Arcaro, C. [1 ]
Armand, C. [7 ]
Backes, M. [1 ,8 ]
Barnard, M. [1 ]
Becherini, Y. [9 ]
Becker Tjus, J. [10 ]
Berge, D. [11 ]
Bernloehr, K. [2 ]
Blackwell, R. [12 ]
Bottcher, M. [1 ]
Boisson, C. [13 ]
Bolmont, J. [14 ]
Bonnefoy, S. [11 ]
Bordas, P. [2 ]
Bregeon, J. [15 ]
Brun, F. [16 ]
Brun, P. [16 ]
Bryan, M. [17 ]
Buechele, M. [18 ]
Bulik, T. [19 ]
Bylund, T. [9 ]
Capasso, M. [20 ]
Caroff, S. [21 ]
Carosi, A. [7 ]
Casanova, S. [2 ,22 ]
Cerruti, M. [14 ,23 ]
Chakraborty, N. [2 ]
Chand, T. [1 ]
Chandra, S. [1 ]
Chaves, R. C. G. [15 ]
Chen, A. [24 ]
Colafrancesco, S. [24 ]
Condon, B. [25 ]
Davids, I. D. [8 ]
Deil, C. [2 ]
Devin, J. [15 ]
DeWilt, P. [12 ]
Dirson, L. [26 ]
Djannati-Atai, A. [27 ]
Dmytriiev, A. [13 ]
Donath, A. [2 ]
Doroshenko, V. [20 ]
Drury, L. O'C [3 ]
Dyks, J. [28 ]
Egberts, K. [29 ]
机构
[1] North West Univ, Ctr Space Res, Potchefstroom, South Africa
[2] Max Planck Inst Kernphys, Heidelberg, Germany
[3] Dublin Inst Adv Studies, Dublin, Ireland
[4] Natl Acad Sci Republ Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
[5] Aix Marseille Univ, CPPM, CNRS, IN2P3, Marseille, France
[6] Rikkyo Univ, Dept Phys, Toshima Ku, Tokyo, Japan
[7] Univ Savoie Mt Blanc, Univ Grenoble Alpes, Lab Annecy Phys Particules, CNRS, Annecy, France
[8] Univ Namibia, Dept Phys, Windhoek, Namibia
[9] Linnaeus Univ, Dept Phys & Elect Engn, Vaxjo, Sweden
[10] Ruhr Univ Bochum, Inst Theoret Phys, Lehrstuhl 4 Weltraum & Astrophys, Bochum, Germany
[11] DESY, Zeuthen, Germany
[12] Univ Adelaide, Sch Phys Sci, Adelaide, SA, Australia
[13] Univ Paris Diderot, PSL Res Univ, Observ Paris, LUTH,CNRS, Meudon, France
[14] Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Univ, Sorbonne Paris Cite, CNRS,IN2P3,LPNHE, Paris, France
[15] Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IN2P3, Lab Univers & Particules Montpellier, CC 72, Montpellier, France
[16] Univ Paris Saclay, CEA, IRFU, Gif Sur Yvette, France
[17] Univ Amsterdam, Anton Pannekoek Inst Astron, GRAPPA, Amsterdam, Netherlands
[18] Friedrich Alexander Univ Erlangen Nurnberg, Erlangen Ctr Astroparticle Phys, Erlangen, Germany
[19] Univ Warsaw, Astron Observ, Warsaw, Poland
[20] Univ Tubingen, Inst Astron & Astrophys, Tubingen, Germany
[21] Ecole Polytech, CNRS, IN2P3, Lab Leprince Ringuet, Palaiseau, France
[22] Inst Fizyki Jadrowej PAN, Krakow, Poland
[23] Univ Barcelona IEEC UB, Inst Ciencies Cosmos ICC UB, Barcelona, Spain
[24] Univ Witwatersrand, Sch Phys, Johannesburg, South Africa
[25] Univ Bordeaux, CNRS, IN2P3, Ctr Etud Nucl Bordeaux Gradignan, Gradignan, France
[26] Univ Hamburg, Inst Expt Phys, Hamburg, Germany
[27] Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cite, Observ Paris, APC,CNRS,IN2P3,CEA,Irfu, Paris, France
[28] Polish Acad Sci, Nicolaus Copernicus Astron Ctr, Warsaw, Poland
[29] Univ Potsdam, Inst Phys & Astron, Potsdam, Germany
[30] Heidelberg Univ, Landessternwarte, Heidelberg, Germany
[31] Univ Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, Grenoble, France
[32] Humboldt Univ, Inst Phys, Berlin, Germany
[33] Leopold Franzens Univ Innsbruck, Inst Astro & Teilchenphys, Innsbruck, Austria
[34] Uniwersytet Jagiellonski, Obserwatorium Astron, Krakow, Poland
[35] Nicolaus Copernicus Univ, Ctr Astron, Fac Phys Astron & Informat, Torun, Poland
[36] Univ Tokyo, Inst Adv Study UTIAS, Kavli Inst Phys & Math Universe Kavli IPMU, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
[37] Univ Free State, Dept Phys, Bloemfontein, South Africa
[38] Univ Zurich, Phys Inst, Zurich, Switzerland
[39] Univ Leicester, Dept Phys & Astron, Leicester, Leics, England
[40] RIKEN, Wako, Saitama, Japan
[41] Univ Tokyo, Dept Phys, Bunkyo Ku, Tokyo, Japan
[42] Yerevan Phys Inst, Yerevan, Armenia
[43] Stockholm Univ, Dept Phys, Oskar Klein Ctr, Albanova Univ Ctr, Stockholm, Sweden
基金
澳大利亚研究理事会; 英国科学技术设施理事会; 新加坡国家研究基金会; 奥地利科学基金会;
关键词
RELATIVISTIC MHD SIMULATIONS; TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS; GAMMA-RAYS; EMISSION; SYNCHROTRON; ORIGIN; TORUS; TEV;
D O I
10.1038/s41550-019-0910-0
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
An angular extension at gamma-ray energies of 52 arcseconds is detected for the Crab nebula, revealing the emission region of the highest-energy gamma rays; simulations of the electromagnetic emission provide a non-trivial test of our understanding of particle acceleration in the Crab nebula. The Crab nebula is one of the most-studied cosmic particle accelerators, shining brightly across the entire electromagnetic spectrum up to very-high-energy gamma rays(1,2). It is known from observations in the radio to gamma-ray part of the spectrum that the nebula is powered by a pulsar, which converts most of its rotational energy losses into a highly relativistic outflow. This outflow powers a pulsar wind nebula, a region of up to ten light-years across, filled with relativistic electrons and positrons. These particles emit synchrotron photons in the ambient magnetic field and produce very-high-energy gamma rays by Compton up-scattering of ambient low-energy photons. Although the synchrotron morphology of the nebula is well established, it has not been known from which region the very-high-energy gamma rays are emitted(3-8). Here we report that the Crab nebula has an angular extension at gamma-ray energies of 52 arcseconds (assuming a Gaussian source width), much larger than at X-ray energies. This result closes a gap in the multi-wavelength coverage of the nebula, revealing the emission region of the highest-energy gamma rays. These gamma rays enable us to probe a previously inaccessible electron and positron energy range. We find that simulations of the electromagnetic emission reproduce our measurement, providing a non-trivial test of our understanding of particle acceleration in the Crab nebula.
引用
收藏
页码:167 / 173
页数:7
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