Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T07:37:25.100Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Gamma Rays from the Geminga Pulsar: Variations with time and Phase

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

I. A. Grenier
Affiliation:
EUROPA, Université Paris 7, Observatoire de Paris, 92190 Meudon, France DAPNIA/SAp, Centre d’Etudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
K. Bennett
Affiliation:
Space Science Department of ESA/ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
R. Buccheri
Affiliation:
IFCAI/CNR, Via M. Stabile 172, 90139 Palermo, Italy
M. Gros
Affiliation:
DAPNIA/SAp, Centre d’Etudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
R. N. Henriksen
Affiliation:
Queen’s University, Physics Department, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L3N6
W. Hermsen
Affiliation:
SRON/Leiden, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
G. Kanbach
Affiliation:
MPI für Extraterrestrische Physik, Karl Schwarzschild Str. 1, 8046 Garching, Germany
B. Sacco
Affiliation:
IFCAI/CNR, Via M. Stabile 172, 90139 Palermo, Italy

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Pulsed γ radiation from the Geminga pulsar was recorded by the COS B satellite from 50 MeV to 5 GeV between 1975 and 1982. It has been analysed to derive the source spectral properties as a function of time and phase. The two main peaks are separated by 0.50 ± 0.01 in phase. Significant pulsed emission has also been detected in both phase regions between the two main peaks. Significant spectral differences with phase have been found; the emission from the first peak is slightly softer than from the second one and the Interpeak 2 radiation is extremely soft. The first peak emission remained stable within the statistics over 7 years while the flux from the other phase intervals changed significantly with time. The phase dependence of the variability implies that all the observed source emission should be pulsed and that it consists of four discrete beams with different apertures and spectra. The beams characteristics are strikingly similar to those of four γ-ray beams generated by the Vela pulsar.

Subject headings: gamma rays: observations — pulsars: individual (Geminga, Vela)

Type
Pulsars, Supernovae, and Supernova Remnants
Copyright
Copyright © The American Astronomical Society 1994

References

Akimov, V., et al. 1993, Adv. Space Res. in pressGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K., et al. 1993, A&AS, 97, 317 Google Scholar
Bertsch, D.L., et al. 1992, Nature, 357, 306 Google Scholar
Bignami, G.F., Caraveo, P.A., & Paul, J.A. 1988, A&A, L1 Google Scholar
Buccheri, R., et al. 1983, A&A, 128, 245 Google Scholar
Cheng, K.S., & Ma, Y.Q. 1994, ApJ, submittedGoogle Scholar
Clear, J., et al. 1987, A&A, 174, 85 Google Scholar
Grenier, I.A., Hermsen, W., & Clear, J. 1988, A&A, 204, 117 Google Scholar
Grenier, I.A., et al. 1994, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Grenier, I.A., Hermsen, W., & Henriksen, R.N. 1993, A&A, 269, 209 Google Scholar
Grenier, I.A., Hermsen, W., & Hote, C. 1991, Advances in Space Research 11, n° 8,(8)107 Google Scholar
Halpern, J.P., & Holt, S.S. 1992, Nature, 357, 222 Google Scholar
Halpern, J.P., & Ruderman, M. 1993, ApJ, 415, 286 Google Scholar
Halpern, J.P., & Tytler, D. 1988, ApJ, 330, 201 Google Scholar
Harding, A.K., & Daugherty, J.K. 1992, in Proc. Los Alamos Workshop, Isolated Pulsars (Taos), ed. Van Riper, K.A., Epstein, R., & Ho, C. (Cambridge Univ. Press), 279 Google Scholar
Hermsen, W., et al. 1992, IAU Circ. No. 5541 Google Scholar
Hermsen, W., 1994, ApJS, in pressGoogle Scholar
Mattox, J.R., et al. 1992, ApJ, 401, L23 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer-Hasselwander, H., et al. 1993, IAU Circ. No. 5649 Google Scholar
Strong, A.W., et al. 1993, A&AS, 97, 217 Google Scholar