H.E.S.S. discovery of 20 TeV gamma-ray pulsations from the Vela pulsar
Abstract
Gamma-ray observations of pulsars by space-borne instruments have established strong cutoffs at an energy of few GeV as a generic feature of their emission. The Crab pulsar has so far been the only source seen in the very-high-energy (VHE; >100 GeV) domain, with pulsations reaching energies of ~1 TeV. Observations of the Vela pulsar with the H.E.S.S. array of telescopes reported here have revealed a new radiation component which we detect as a single pulsation aligned with the second of the two narrow peaks known in the GeV range. The spectrum of this component extends up to 20 TeV and is among the hardest known in the VHE domain. This discovery establishes that the Vela pulsar can achieve acceleration of particles to Lorentz factors higher than 4x 10^7. We will discuss the constraints on the origin of the pulsed high energy emission in the Vela pulsar, i.e. the acceleration/emission processes at play and the magnetospheric zones involved.
- Publication:
-
31st Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- September 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022tsra.confE..33D