Discovery of Pulsed γ-Rays from PSR J0034-0534 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope: A Case for Co-Located Radio and γ-Ray Emission Regions
Abstract
Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) have been firmly established as a class of γ-ray emitters via the detection of pulsations above 0.1 GeV from eight MSPs by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Using 13 months of LAT data, significant γ-ray pulsations at the radio period have been detected from the MSP PSR J0034-0534, making it the ninth clear MSP detection by the LAT. The γ-ray light curve shows two peaks separated by 0.274 ± 0.015 in phase which are very nearly aligned with the radio peaks, a phenomenon seen only in the Crab pulsar until now. The >=0.1 GeV spectrum of this pulsar is well fit by an exponentially cutoff power law with a cutoff energy of 1.8 ± 0.6 ± 0.1 GeV and a photon index of 1.5 ± 0.2 ± 0.1, first errors are statistical and second are systematic. The near-alignment of the radio and γ-ray peaks strongly suggests that the radio and γ-ray emission regions are co-located and both are the result of caustic formation.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- April 2010
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-637X/712/2/957
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1002.2607
- Bibcode:
- 2010ApJ...712..957A
- Keywords:
-
- gamma rays: general;
- pulsars: general;
- pulsars: individual: PSR J0034–0534;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 20 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ