Resolving the Crab pulsar wind nebula at teraelectronvolt energies

Collaboration, H. E. S. S.; Abdalla, H.; Aharonian, F.; Ait Benkhali, Faical; Angüner, E. O.; Arakawa, M.; Arcaro, C.; Arm, C.; Backes, M.; Barnard, M.; Becherini, Y.; Tjus, J. Becker; Berge, D.; Bernloehr, K.; Blackwell, R.; Böttcher, M.; Boisson, C.; Bolmont, J.; Bonnefoy, S.; Bordas Coma, P.; Bregeon, J.; Brun, F.; Brun, P.; Bryan, M.; Büchele, M.; Bulik, T.; Bylund, T.; Capasso, M.; Caroff, S.; Carosi, A.; Casanova, Sabrina; Cerruti, M.; Chakraborty, Nachiketa; Chaves, R. C. G.; Chen, A.; Colafrancesco, S.; Condon, B.; Davids, I. D.; Deil, C.; Devin, J.; deWilt, P.; Dirson, L.; Djannati-Ataï, A.; Dmytriiev, A.; Donath, Axel; Doroshenko, V.; Drury, L. O'C.; Dyks, J.; Egberts, K.; Emery, G.; Ernenwein, J. -P.; Eschbach, S.; Fegan, S.; Fiasson, A.; Fontaine, G.; Funk, S.; Füßling, M.; Gabici, S.; Gallant, Y. A.; Gaté, F.; Giavitto, G.; Glawion, D.; Glicenstein, J. F.; Gottschall, D.; Grondin, M. -H.; Hahn, Joachim; Haupt, M.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henri, G.; Hermann, G.; Hinton, J. A.; Hofmann, W.; Hoischen, C.; Holch, T. L.; Holler, M.; Horns, D.; Huber, D.; Iwasaki, H.; Jacholkowska, A.; Jamrozy, M.; Jankowsky, D.; Jankowsky, F.; Jouvin, L.; Jung-Richardt, I.; Kastendieck, M. A.; Katarzyński, K.; Katsuragawa, M.; Katz, U.; Khangulyan, D.; Khélifi, B.; King, J.; Klepser, S.; Kluźniak, W.; Komin, Nu.; Kosack, K.; Kraus, M.; Lamanna, G.; Lau, J.; Lefaucheur, J.; Lemière, A.; Lemoine-Goumard, M.; Lenain, J. -P.; Leser, E.; Lohse, T.; López-Coto, R-; Lypova, I.; Malyshev, D.; Mar, V.; Marcowith, A.; Mariaud, C.; Martí-Devesa, G.; Marx, Ramin; Maurin, G.; Meintjes, P. J.; Mitchell, A.; Moderski, R.; Mohamed, M.; Mohrmann, L.; Moore, C.; Moulin, E.; Murach, T.; Nakashima, S.; de Naurois, M.; Ndiyavala, H.; Niederwanger, F.; Niemiec, J.; Oakes, L.; O'Brien, P.; Odaka, H.; Ohm, S.; Ostrowski, M.; Oya, I.; Panter, M.; Parsons, R. D.; Perennes, C.; Petrucci, P. -O.; Peyaud, B.; Piel, Q.; Pita, S.; Poireau, V.; Noel, A. Priyana; Prokhorov, D. A.; Prokoph, H.; Pühlhofer, G.; Punch, M.; Quirrenbach, A.; Raab, S.; Rauth, R.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Renaud, M.; Rieger, F.; Rinchiuso, L.; Romoli, C.; Rowell, G.; Rudak, B.; Ruiz Velasco, E.; Sahakian, V.; Saito, S.; Sanchez, D. A.; Santangelo, A.; Sasaki, M.; Schlickeiser, R.; Schüssler, F.; Schulz, A.; Schutte, H.; Schwanke, U.; Schwemmer, S.; Seglar-Arroyo, M.; Senniappan, M.; Seyffert, A. S.; Shafi, N.; Shilon, I.; Shiningayamwe, K.; Simoni, R.; Sinha, A.; Sol, H.; Specovius, A.; Spir-Jacob, M.; Stawarz, Ł.; Steenkamp, R.; Stegmann, C.; Steppa, C.; Takahashi, T.; Tavernet, J. -P.; Tavernier, T.; Taylor, A. M.; Terrier, R.; Tiziani, D.; Tluczykont, M.; Trichard, C.; Tsirou, M.; Tsuji, N.; Tuffs, R.; Uchiyama, Y.; van der Walt, D. J.; van Eldik, C.; van Rensburg, C.; van Soelen, B.; Vasileiadis, G.; Veh, J.; Venter, C.; Vincent, P.; Vink, J.; Voisin, F.; Voelk, H. J.; Vuillaume, T.; Wadiasingh, Z.; Wagner, S. J.; Wagner, R. M.; White, R.; Wierzcholska, A.; Yang, R.; Yoneda, H.; Zaborov, D.; Zacharias, M.; Zanin, R.; Zdziarski, A. A.; Zech, A.; Ziegler, A.; Zorn, J.; Żywucka, N.

doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0910-0

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

Resolving the Crab pulsar wind nebula at teraelectronvolt energies

MPS-Authors

/persons/resource/persons30244

Aharonian, F.
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons73513

Ait Benkhali, Faical
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30300

Bernloehr, K.
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons119022

Bordas Coma, P.
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30369

Casanova, Sabrina
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons98325

Chakraborty, Nachiketa
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30391

Deil, C.
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30418

Donath, Axel
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30555

Hahn, Joachim
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30584

Hermann, G.
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30597

Hinton, J. A.
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30605

Hofmann, W.
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons199825

López-Coto, R-
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons59477

Marx, Ramin
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons104499

Mitchell, A.
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30878

Panter, M.
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons73254

Parsons, R. D.
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons30943

Rieger, F.
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons226684

Ruiz Velasco, E.
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons31117

Tuffs, R.
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons31141

Voelk, H. J.
Prof. Heinrich J. Völk, Emeriti, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons146341

White, R.
Division Prof. Dr. James A. Hinton, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons216888

Zanin, R.
Division Prof. Dr. Werner Hofmann, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

External Resource

No external resources are shared

Fulltext (restricted access)

There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.

Fulltext (public)

1909.09494.pdf
(Preprint), 2MB

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Collaboration, H. E. S. S., Abdalla, H., Aharonian, F., Ait Benkhali, F., Angüner, E. O., Arakawa, M., et al. (2019). Resolving the Crab pulsar wind nebula at teraelectronvolt energies. Nature astronomy. doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0910-0.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0004-F3BA-8

Abstract

The Crab nebula is one of the most studied cosmic particle accelerators,
shining brightly across the entire electromagnetic spectrum up to very
high-energy gamma rays. It is known from radio to gamma-ray observations that
the nebula is powered by a pulsar, which converts most of its rotational energy
losses into a highly relativistic outflow. This outflow powers a pulsar wind
nebula (PWN), a region of up to 10~light-years across, filled with relativistic
electrons and positrons. These particles emit synchrotron photons in the
ambient magnetic field and produce very high-energy gamma rays by Compton
up-scattering of ambient low-energy photons. While the synchrotron morphology
of the nebula is well established, it was up to now not known in which region
the very high-energy gamma rays are emitted. Here we report that the Crab
nebula has an angular extension at gamma-ray energies of 52 arcseconds
(assuming a Gaussian source width), significantly larger than at X-ray
energies. This result closes a gap in the multi-wavelength coverage of the
nebula, revealing the emission region of the highest energy gamma rays. These
gamma rays are a new probe of a previously inaccessible electron and positron
energy range. We find that simulations of the electromagnetic emission
reproduce our new measurement, providing a non-trivial test of our
understanding of particle acceleration in the Crab nebula.