Pulsars are rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars, created in the gravitational collapse of massive stars. We report the detection of pulsed giga–electron volt gamma rays from the young pulsar PSR J0540–6919 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. This is the first gamma-ray pulsar detected in another galaxy. It has the most luminous pulsed gamma-ray emission yet observed, exceeding the Crab pulsar’s by a factor of 20. PSR J0540–6919 presents an extreme test case for understanding the structure and evolution of neutron star magnetospheres.
Gamma-ray astronomy: An extremely bright gamma-ray pulsar in the Large Magellanic Cloud
BARBIERI, CESARE;BASTIERI, DENIS;BOTTACINI, EUGENIO ALESSIO;CHIARO, GRAZIANO;NALETTO, GIAMPIERO;RANDO, RICCARDO;
2015
Abstract
Pulsars are rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars, created in the gravitational collapse of massive stars. We report the detection of pulsed giga–electron volt gamma rays from the young pulsar PSR J0540–6919 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. This is the first gamma-ray pulsar detected in another galaxy. It has the most luminous pulsed gamma-ray emission yet observed, exceeding the Crab pulsar’s by a factor of 20. PSR J0540–6919 presents an extreme test case for understanding the structure and evolution of neutron star magnetospheres.File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.
Pubblicazioni consigliate
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.