In:
Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Vol. 322, No. 5905 ( 2008-11-21), p. 1221-1224
Abstract:
One fundamental question about pulsars concerns the mechanism of their pulsed electromagnetic emission. Measuring the high-end region of a pulsar's spectrum would shed light on this question. By developing a new electronic trigger, we lowered the threshold of the Major Atmospheric γ-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescope to 25 giga–electron volts. In this configuration, we detected pulsed γ-rays from the Crab pulsar that were greater than 25 giga–electron volts, revealing a relatively high cutoff energy in the phase-averaged spectrum. This indicates that the emission occurs far out in the magnetosphere, hence excluding the polar-cap scenario as a possible explanation of our measurement. The high cutoff energy also challenges the slot-gap scenario.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0036-8075
,
1095-9203
DOI:
10.1126/science.1164718
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Publication Date:
2008
detail.hit.zdb_id:
128410-1
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2066996-3
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2060783-0
SSG:
11