Updated results from VERITAS on the Crab pulsar
Abstract
The Crab pulsar and plerion are some of the brightest and best studied non-thermal astrophysical sources. The recent discovery of pulsed gamma-ray emission above 100 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) from the Crab pulsar with VERITAS (the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) challenges commonly accepted pulsar emission models and puts the gamma-ray emission region far out in the magnetosphere - close to or even beyond the light cylinder. We present updated VERITAS results from the analysis of a data set that is twice as large as the original data set published in 2011. The results are discussed in the context of discriminating between different models put forward to explain gamma-ray emission mechanisms and acceleration regions within the Crab pulsar's magnetosphere.
- Publication:
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34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015)
- Pub Date:
- July 2015
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1508.07268
- Bibcode:
- 2015ICRC...34..828N
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 7 pages, 3 figures, in Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague (The Netherlands)