Detection of bridge emission above 50 GeV from the Crab pulsar with the MAGIC telescopes

Aleksić, J.; Ansoldi, S.; Antonelli, L. A.; Antoranz, P.; Babic, A.; Bangale, P.; Barres de Almeida, U.; Barrio, J. A.; Becerra González, J.; Bednarek, W.; Bernardini, E.; Biasuzzi, B.; Biland, A.; Blanch, O.; Bonnefoy, S.; Bonnoli, G.; Borracci, F.; Bretz, T.; Carmona, E.; Carosi, A.; Colin, P.; Colombo, E.; Contreras, J. L.; Cortina, J.; Covino, S.; Da Vela, P.; Dazzi, F.; De Angelis, A.; De Caneva, G.; De Lotto, B.; Delgado Mendez, C.; Doert, M.; Dominis Prester, D.; Dorner, D.; Doro, M.; Einecke, S.; Eisenacher, D.; Elsaesser, D.; Farina, E.; Ferenc, D.; Fidalgo, D.; Fonseca, M. V.; Font, L.; Frantzen, K.; Fruck, C.; García López, R. J.; Garczarczyk, M.; Garrido Terrats, D.; Gaug, M.; Godinović, N.; González Muñoz, A.; Gozzini, S. R.; Hadasch, D.; Hayashida, M.; Herrera, J.; Herrero, A.; Hildebrand, D.; Hirotani, K.; Hose, J.; Hrupec, D.; Idec, W.; Kadenius, V.; Kellermann, H.; Kodani, K.; Konno, Y.; Krause, J.; Kubo, H.; Kushida, J.; La Barbera, A.; Lelas, D.; Lewandowska, N.; Lindfors, E.; Lombardi, S.; López, M.; López-Coto, R.; López-Oramas, A.; Lorenz, E.; Lozano, I.; Makariev, M.; Mallot, K.; Maneva, G.; Mankuzhiyil, N.; Mannheim, K.; Maraschi, L.; Marcote, B.; Mariotti, M.; Martínez, M.; Mazin, D.; Menzel, U.; Miranda, J. M.; Mirzoyan, R.; Moralejo, A.; Munar-Adrover, P.; Nakajima, D.; Niedzwiecki, A.; Nilsson, K.; Nishijima, K.; Noda, K.; Nowak, N.; Orito, R. et al.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 565, id.L12, 5 pp.

Advertised on:
5
2014
Number of authors
156
IAC number of authors
6
Citations
29
Refereed citations
26
Description
Context. The Crab pulsar is the only astronomical pulsed source detected at very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. The emission mechanism of VHE pulsation is not yet fully understood, although several theoretical models have been proposed. Aims: In order to test new models, we measured the light curve and the spectra of the Crab pulsar with high precision by means of deep observations. Methods: We analyzed 135 h of selected MAGIC data taken between 2009 and 2013 in stereoscopic mode. In order to discuss the spectral shape in connection with lower energies, 5.5 years of Fermi-LAT data were also analyzed. Results: The known two pulses per period were detected with a significance of 8.0σ and 12.6σ. In addition, significant emission was found between the two pulses with 6.2σ. Conclusions: We discovered the bridge emission above 50 GeV between the two main pulses. This emission can not be explained with the existing theories. These data can be used for testing new theoretical models. The lightcurve data of Fig. 1 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/565/L12
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Particle Astrophysics
The MAGIC Collaboration is integrated by 20 research institutes and university departments from Armenia, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and USA. The collaboration comprises two 17m diameter telescopes, located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, designed to measure the Cherenkov radiation associated with
Ramón
García López