Fermi large area telescope observations of the crab pulsar and nebula

• We report on gamma-ray observations of the Crab Pulsar and Nebula using 8 months of survey data with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). The high quality light curve obtained using the ephemeris provided by the Nancay and Jodrell Bank radio telescopes shows two main peaks stable in phase with energy. The first gamma-ray peak leads the radio main pulse by (281 +/- 12 +/- 21) mu s, giving new constraints on the production site of non-thermal emission in pulsar magnetospheres. The first uncertainty is due to gamma-ray statistics, and the second arises from the rotation parameters. The improved sensitivity and the unprecedented statistics afforded by the LAT enable precise measurement of the Crab Pulsar spectral parameters: cut-off energy at E-c = (5.8 +/- 0.5 +/- 1.2) GeV, spectral index of Gamma = (1.97 +/- 0.02 +/- 0.06) and integral photon flux above 100 MeV of (2.09 +/- 0.03 +/- 0.18) x 10(-6) cm(-2) s(-1). The first errors represent the statistical error on the fit parameters, while the second ones are the systematic uncertainties. Pulsed gamma-ray photons are observed up to similar to 20 GeV which precludes emission near the stellar surface, below altitudes of around 4-5 stellar radii in phase intervals encompassing the two main peaks. A detailed phase-resolved spectral analysis is also performed: the hardest emission from the Crab Pulsar comes from the bridge region between the two gamma-ray peaks while the softest comes from the falling edge of the second peak. The spectrum of the nebula in the energy range 100 MeV-300 GeV is well described by the sum of two power laws of indices Gamma(sync) = (3.99 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.08) and Gamma(IC) = (1.64 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.07), corresponding to the falling edge of the synchrotron and the rising edge of the inverse Compton (IC) components, respectively. This latter, which links up naturally with the spectral data points of Cherenkov experiments, is well reproduced via IC scattering from standard magnetohydrodynamic nebula models, and does not require any additional radiation mechanism.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

gamma rays: observations

ISM: individual (Crab Nebula)

pulsars

individual (Crab)

supernova remnants

gamma-ray pulsars

high-energy

timing observations

space-telescope

light curves

egret data

x-rays

50 tev

emission

radiation

Astronomy and astrophysics

Astronomi och astrofysik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)