Detection of VHE gamma-rays from HESS j0632+057 during the 2011 february X-ray outburst with the magic telescopes
The very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray source HESS J0632+057 has recently been confirmed to be a gamma-ray binary. The optical counterpart is the Be star MWC 148, and a compact object of unknown nature orbits it every similar to 321 days with a high eccentricity of similar to 0.8. We monitored HESS J0...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2012 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) |
| Repositorio: | Docta Complutense |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/43740 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/43740 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 537 539.1 TEV binary Emission Discovery Variability Counterpart Binaries: general Gamma rays: general Stars: individual (MWC 148) X-rays: binaries X-rays: individual (HESS J0632+057). Electricidad Electrónica (Física) Física nuclear 2202.03 Electricidad 2207 Física Atómica y Nuclear |
| Sumario: | The very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray source HESS J0632+057 has recently been confirmed to be a gamma-ray binary. The optical counterpart is the Be star MWC 148, and a compact object of unknown nature orbits it every similar to 321 days with a high eccentricity of similar to 0.8. We monitored HESS J0632+057 with the stereoscopic MAGIC telescopes from 2010 October to 2011 March and detected significant VHE gamma-ray emission during 2011 February, when the system exhibited an X-ray outburst. We find no gamma-ray signal in the other observation periods when the system did not show increased X-ray flux. Thus, HESS J0632+057 exhibits gamma-ray variability on timescales of the order of one to two months possibly linked to the X-ray outburst that takes place about 100 days after the periastron passage. Furthermore, our measurements provide for the first time the gamma-ray spectrum down to about 140 GeV and indicate no turnover of the spectrum at low energies. We compare the properties of HESS J0632+057 with the similar gamma-ray binary LS I +61 degrees 303 and discuss the possible origin of the multi-wavelength emission of the source. |
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