%0 Journal Article
%T Discovery of the Binary Pulsar PSR B1259-63 in Very-High-Energy Gamma Rays around Periastron with H.E.S.S
%+ AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164))
%+ Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Astroparticules (LPTA)
%+ Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet (LLR)
%+ Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (LPNHE)
%A Aharonian, F.
%A Akhperjanian, A.G.
%A Aye, K.-M.
%A Bazer-Bachi, A.R.
%A Beilicke, M.
%A Benbow, W.
%A Berge, D.
%A Berghaus, P.
%A Bernlohr, K.
%A Boisson, C.
%A Bolz, O.
%A Braun, I.
%A Breitling, F.
%A Brown, A.M.
%A Bussons Gordo, J.
%A Chadwick, P.M.
%A Chounet, L.-M.
%A Cornils, R.
%A Costamante, L.
%A Degrange, B.
%A Djannati-Ataï, A.
%A Drury, L.O'C.
%A Dubus, G.
%A Emmanoulopoulos, D.
%A Espigat, P.
%A Feinstein, F.
%A Fleury, P.
%A Fontaine, G.
%A Fuchs, Y.
%A Funk, S.
%A Gallant, Y.A.
%A Giebels, B.
%A Gillessen, S.
%A Glicenstein, J.F.
%A Goret, P.
%A Hadjichristidis, C.
%A Hauser, M.
%A Heinzelmann, G.
%A Henri, G.
%A Hermann, G.
%A Hinton, J.A.
%A Hofmann, W.
%A Holleran, M.
%A Horns, D.
%A de Jager, O.C.
%A Johnston, S.
%A Khelifi, B.
%A Kirk, J.G.
%A Komin, Nu.
%A Konopelko, A.
%A Latham, I.J.
%A Le Gallou, R.
%A Lemière, A.
%A Lemoine-Goumard, M.
%A Leroy, N.
%A Martineau-Huynh, O.
%A Lohse, T.
%A Marcowith, A.
%A Masterson, C.
%A Mccomb, T.J.L.
%A de Naurois, M.
%A Nolan, S.J.
%A Noutsos, A.
%A Orford, K.J.
%A Osborne, J.L.
%A Ouchrif, M.
%A Panter, M.
%A Pelletier, G.
%A Pita, S.
%A Puhlhofer, G.
%A Punch, M.
%A Raubenheimer, B.C.
%A Raue, M.
%A Raux, J.
%A Rayner, S.M.
%A Redondo, I.
%A Reimer, A.
%A Reimer, O.
%A Ripken, J.
%A Rob, L.
%A Rolland, L.
%A Rowell, G.
%A Sahakian, V.
%A Sauge, L.
%A Schlenker, S.
%A Schlickeiser, R.
%A Schuster, C.
%A Schwanke, U.
%A Siewert, M.
%A Skjæraasen, O.
%A Sol, H.
%A Steenkamp, R.
%A Stegmann, C.
%A Tavernet, J.-P.
%A Terrier, R.
%A Théoret, C.G.
%A Tluczykont, M.
%A Vasileiadis, G.
%A Venter, C.
%A Vincent, P.
%A Volk, H.J.
%A Wagner, S.J.
%Z 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics on 2 June 2005, replace: document unchanged, replaced author field in astro-ph entry - authors are all members of the H.E.S.S. collaboration and three additional authors (99+3, see document)
%< avec comité de lecture
%Z APC-05-66
%@ 0004-6361
%J Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A
%I EDP Sciences
%V 442
%P 1-10
%8 2005
%D 2005
%Z astro-ph/0506280
%R 10.1051/0004-6361:20052983
%Z Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]
%Z Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO]Journal articles
%X We report the discovery of very-high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$-ray emission of the binary system PSR B1259-63/SS 2883 of a radio pulsar orbiting a massive, luminous Be star in a highly eccentric orbit. The observations around the 2004 periastron passage of the pulsar were performed with the four 13 m Cherenkov telescopes of the H.E.S.S. experiment, recently installed in Namibia and in full operation since December 2003. Between February and June 2004, a $\gamma$-ray signal from the binary system was detected with a total significance above 13 $\sigma$. The flux was found to vary significantly on timescales of days which makes PSR B1259-63 the first variable galactic source of VHE $\gamma$-rays observed so far. Strong emission signals were observed in pre- and post-periastron phases with a flux minimum around periastron, followed by a gradual flux decrease in the months after. The measured time-averaged energy spectrum above a mean threshold energy of 380 GeV can be fitted by a simple power law $F_0(E/1 TeV)^{-\Gamma}$ with a photon index $\Gamma = 2.7\pm0.2_{stat}\pm0.2_{sys}$ and flux normalisation $F_0 = (1.3\0.1_{stat}\pm0.3_{sys})\times10^{-12} TeV^{-1} cm^{-2} s^{-1}$. This detection of VHE $\gamma$-rays provides unambiguous evidence for particle acceleration to multi-TeV energies in the binary system. In combination with coeval observations of the X-ray synchrotron emission by the RXTE and INTEGRAL instruments, and assuming the VHE $\gamma¤-ray emission to be produced by the inverse Compton mechanism, the magnetic field strength can be directly estimated to be of the order of 1 G.
%G English
%Z HESS
%L in2p3-00024875
%U https://hal.in2p3.fr/in2p3-00024875
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