Hard X-Ray Emission from the Pulsar System PSR B1259-63 near Periastron

Previous abstract Next abstract

Session 102 -- X-Ray Variables, Binaries and Transients
Display presentation, Thursday, 12, 1995, 9:20am - 6:30pm

[102.14] Hard X-Ray Emission from the Pulsar System PSR B1259-63 near Periastron

M. Tavani (Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 ), E. Grove, W.\ N. Johnson, J.\ D. Kurfess, M.\ S. Strickman (E.O. Hulburt Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7650, Washington DC, 20375), W.\ R. Purcell (Department of Physics \& Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston IL, 60208), J. Arons (UC Berkeley)

The \psr system containing a young pulsar and a Be star was observed near periastron by the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory in January 1994. We report here the detection by the \osse instrument of hard X-ray emission between 50 and 200~keV in the direction of the \psr system. Possible background sources of emission (diffuse galactic background and nearby X-ray binaries) are unlikely to contribute significantly to the detected emission. The emission detected by \osse is consistent with a power-law extrapolation of the X-ray emission detected by \asca from the \psr system. The detection by \osse of the \psr system near periastron is in agreement with shock-powered emission from a pulsar wind termination shock, and it can be used to set important constraints on the shock acceleration mechanism.

Thursday program listing