Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996apj...457..253d&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal v.457, p.253
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
126
Gamma Rays: Observations, Ism: Individual Name: Crab Nebula, Ism: Magnetic Fields, Magnetohydrodynamics: Mhd, Radiation Mechanisms: Nonthermal, X-Rays: Ism
Scientific paper
Phase I and II EGRET observations of the Crab Nebula establish the synchro-Compton unpulsed spectrum between approximately 70 MeV and 30 GeV. The soft 70-150 MeV spectrum appears to be a steepened extension of the 1-30 MeV COMPTEL spectrum recently reported by Much et al., indicating that the nebular synchrotron spectrum cuts off with an e-folding energy E0 ˜ 26 MeV. This energy is consistent with the characteristic synchrotron energy hυmax ˜ (3/4π )2hc/r0 = 25 MeV (with r0 being the classical electron radius) expected for the synchrotron burnoff if electrons are accelerated on a timescale equal to the electron gyro- period in the inner nebula. The 70-150 MeV emission in the exponential tail of this cutoff decreased by a factor of about 2 between 1991 and 1993, which is consistent with an approximately 25% reduction in E0 over that time.
A steady hard, approximately E-1.85 photon spectrum, added to the synchrotron component, is required for energies up to 10 GeV. This spectrum steepens toward the observed TeV γ-ray spectrum and may represent the expected nebular inverse-Compton (IC) component, which allows a measurement of the mean nebular field strength: from EGRET we obtain barB ˜ 0.13 mG for the radio nebula, whereas the various reported TeV observations correspond to a larger barB ˜ 0.26 mG for the smaller optical nebula. The observation of the IC component also allows us to obtain a lower limit to the time-averaged injection rate Ndot > 4 x 1040 s-1 for all electrons/positrons into the nebula. The combined EGRET/TeV IC spectrum appears to be inconsistent with the assumption of a spherically symmetric particle-dominated pulsar wind with parameter σ ˜ 0.003 (see the work of Kennel & Coroniti).
de Jager Ocker C.
Harding Alice K.
Michelson Peter F.
Nel H. I.
Nolan Patrick Lee
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