2012A&A...548A..38A

Query : 2012A&A...548A..38A

2012A&A...548A..38A - Astronomy and Astrophysics, volume 548A38-38 (2012/12-1)

Probing the extent of the non-thermal emission from the Vela X region at TeV energies with H.E.S.S.

ABRAMOWSKI A., ACERO F., AHARONIAN F., AKHPERJANIAN A.G., ANTON G., BALENDERAN S., BALZER A., BARNACKA A., BECHERINI Y., BECKER TJUS J., BERNLOEHR K., BIRSIN E., BITEAU J., BOCHOW A., BOISSON C., BOLMONT J., BORDAS P., BRUCKER J., BRUN F., BRUN P., BULIK T., CARRIGAN S., CASANOVA S., CERRUTI M., CHADWICK P.M., CHARBONNIER A., CHAVES R.C.G., CHEESEBROUGH A., COLOGNA G., CONRAD J., COUTURIER C., DALTON M., DANIEL M.K., DAVIDS I.D., DEGRANGE B., DEIL C., DEWILT P., DICKINSON H.J., DJANNATI-ATAIE A., DOMAINKO W., DRURY L.O'C., DUBOIS F., DUBUS G., DUTSON K., DYKS J., DYRDA M., EGBERTS K., EGER P., ESPIGAT P., FALLON L., FARNIER C., FEGAN S., FEINSTEIN F., FERNANDES M.V., FERNANDEZ D., FIASSON A., FONTAINE G., FOERSTER A., FUESSLING M., GAJDUS M., GALLANT Y.A., GARRIGOUX T., GAST H., GIEBELS B., GLICENSTEIN J.F., GLUECK B., GOERING D., GRONDIN M.-H., HAEFFNER S., HAGUE J.D., HAHN J., HAMPF D., HARRIS J., HEINZ S., HEINZELMANN G., HENRI G., HERMANN G., HILLERT A., HINTON J.A., HOFMANN W., HOFVERBERG P., HOLLER M., HORNS D., JACHOLKOWSKA A., JAHN C., JAMROZY M., JUNG I., KASTENDIECK M.A., KATARZYNSKI K., KATZ U., KAUFMANN S., KHELIFI B., KLOCHKOV D., KLUZNIAK W., KNEISKE T., KOMIN NU., KOSACK K., KOSSAKOWSKI R., KRAYZEL F., KRUEGER P.P., LAFFON H., LAMANNA G., LENAIN J.-P., LENNARZ D., LOHSE T., LOPATIN A., LU C.-C., MARANDON V., MARCOWITH A., MASBOU J., MAURIN G., MAXTED N., MAYER M., McCOMB T.J.L., MEDINA M.C., MEHAULT J., MENZLER U., MODERSKI R., MOHAMED M., MOULIN E., NAUMANN C.L., NAUMANN-GODO M., DE NAUROIS M., NEDBAL D., NGUYEN N., NIEMIEC J., NOLAN S.J., OHM S., DE ONA WILHELMI E., OPITZ B., OSTROWSKI M., OYA I., PANTER M., PARSONS D., PAZ ARRIBAS M., PEKEUR N.W., PELLETIER G., PEREZ J., PETRUCCI P.-O., PEYAUD B., PITA S., PUEHLHOFER G., PUNCH M., QUIRRENBACH A., RAUE M., REIMER A., REIMER O., RENAUD M., DE LOS REYES R., RIEGER F., RIPKEN J., ROB L., ROSIER-LEES S., ROWELL G., RUDAK B., RULTEN C.B., SAHAKIAN V., SANCHEZ D.A., SANTANGELO A., SCHLICKEISER R., SCHULZ A., SCHWANKE U., SCHWARZBURG S., SCHWEMMER S., SHEIDAEI F., SKILTON J.L., SOL H., SPENGLER G., STAWARZ L., STEENKAMP R., STEGMANN C., STINZING F., STYCZ K., SUSHCH I., SZOSTEK A., TAVERNET J.-P., TERRIER R., TLUCZYKONT M., TRICHARD C., VALERIUS K., VAN ELDIK C., VASILEIADIS G., VENTER C., VIANA A., VINCENT P., VOELK H.J., VOLPE F., VOROBIOV S., VORSTER M., WAGNER S.J., WARD M., WHITE R., WIERZCHOLSKA A., WOUTERS D., ZACHARIAS M., ZAJCZYK A., ZDZIARSKI A.A., ZECH A., ZECHLIN H.-S. (The HESS Collaboration)

Abstract (from CDS):

Vela X is a region of extended radio emission in the western part of the Vela constellation: one of the nearest pulsar wind nebulae, and associated with the energetic Vela pulsar (PSR B0833-45). Extended very-high-energy (VHE) γ-ray emission (HESS J0835-455) was discovered using the H.E.S.S. experiment in 2004. The VHE γ-ray emission was found to be coincident with a region of X-ray emission discovered with ROSAT above 1.5 keV (the so-called Vela X cocoon): a filamentary structure extending southwest from the pulsar to the centre of Vela X. A deeper observation of the entire Vela X nebula region, also including larger offsets from the cocoon, has been performed with H.E.S.S. This re-observation was carried out in order to probe the extent of the non-thermal emission from the Vela X region at TeV energies and to investigate its spectral properties. To increase the sensitivity to the faint γ-ray emission from the very extended Vela X region, a multivariate analysis method combining three complementary reconstruction techniques of Cherenkov-shower images is applied for the selection of γ-ray events. The analysis is performed with the On/Off background method, which estimates the background from separate observations pointing away from Vela X; towards regions free of γ-ray sources but with comparable observation conditions. The γ-ray surface brightness over the large Vela X region reveals that the detection of non-thermal VHE γ-ray emission from the PWN HESS J0835-455 is statistically significant over a region of radius 1.2° around the position α=08h35m00s, δ=-45°36'00'' (J2000). The Vela X region exhibits almost uniform γ-ray spectra over its full extent: the differential energy spectrum can be described by a power-law function with a hard spectral index Γ=1.32±0.06stat±0.12sys and an exponential cutoff at an energy of (14.0±1.6stat±2.6sys)TeV. Compared to the previous H.E.S.S. observations of Vela X the new analysis confirms the general spatial overlap of the bulk of the VHE γ-ray emission with the X-ray cocoon, while its extent and morphology appear more consistent with the (more extended) radio emission, contradicting the simple correspondence between VHE γ-ray and X-ray emissions. Morphological and spectral results challenge the interpretation of the origin of γ-ray emission in the GeV and TeV ranges in the framework of current models.

Abstract Copyright: ∼

Journal keyword(s): radiation mechanisms: non-thermal - ISM: individual objects: Vela X - ISM: individual objects: HESS J0835-455 - rays: general gamma

Simbad objects: 7

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Number of rows : 7
N Identifier Otype ICRS (J2000)
RA 		ICRS (J2000)
DEC 		Mag U Mag B Mag V Mag R Mag I Sp type #ref
1850 - 2026 		#notes
1 NAME Vela X Psr 08 33 08.880 -45 11 24.36           ~ 302 1
2 NAME Vela SNR 08 34.0 -45 50           ~ 1331 2
3 NAME Vela Pulsar Psr 08 35 20.65525 -45 10 35.1545     15.10     ~ 2446 1
4 NAME Vela Y Rad 08 45.3 -43 53           ~ 25 0
5 NAME Vela Jr SN SNR 08 52.0 -46 20           ~ 507 2
6 NAME Vela Z Rad 08 53 30.0 -45 35 00           ~ 32 0
7 NAME Vela Field reg ~ ~           ~ 200 0

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