VHE γ-ray observation of the Crab Nebula and its pulsar with the MAGIC Telescope

We report about very high energy (VHE) γ-ray observations of the Crab Nebula with the MAGIC telescope. The γ-ray flux from the nebula was measured between 60 GeV and 9 TeV. The energy spectrum can be described by a curved power law dF/dE = f0(E/300 GeV)[a+blog10(E/300 GeV)] with a flux normalization...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: MAGIC Collaboration, Paredes i Poy, Josep Maria, Ribó Gomis, Marc, Bosch i Ramon, Valentí
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2008
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/150801
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/150801
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Raigs gamma
Acceleradors de partícules
Púlsars
Gamma rays
Particle accelerators
Pulsars
Descripción
Sumario:We report about very high energy (VHE) γ-ray observations of the Crab Nebula with the MAGIC telescope. The γ-ray flux from the nebula was measured between 60 GeV and 9 TeV. The energy spectrum can be described by a curved power law dF/dE = f0(E/300 GeV)[a+blog10(E/300 GeV)] with a flux normalization f0 of (6.0 ± 0.2stat) × 10−10 cm−2 s−1 TeV−1, a = − 2.31 ± 0.06stat, and b = − 0.26 ± 0.07stat. The peak in the spectral energy distribution is estimated at 77 ± 35 GeV. Within the observation time and the experimental resolution of the telescope, the γ-ray emission is steady and pointlike. The emission's center of gravity coincides with the position of the pulsar. Pulsed γ-ray emission from the pulsar could not be detected. We constrain the cutoff energy of the pulsed spectrum to be less than 27 GeV, assuming that the differential energy spectrum has an exponential cutoff. For a superexponential shape, the cutoff energy can be as high as 60 GeV.