Discovery of the candidate pulsar wind nebula HESS J1718-385 in very-high-energy gamma-rays

H. E. S. S Collaboration: S. Carrigan , Yves Gallant (1) , J. A. Hinton , Nukri Komin (1) , K. Kosack , C. Stegmann

1 LPTA - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Astroparticules

Motivated by recent detections of pulsar wind nebulae in very-high-energy(VHE) gamma rays, a systematic search for VHE gamma-ray sources associated withenergetic pulsars was performed, using data obtained with the H.E.S.S. (HighEnergy Stereoscopic System) instrument. The search for VHE gamma-ray sourcesnear the pulsar PSR J1718-3825 revealed the new VHE gamma-ray source HESSJ1718-385. We report on the results from the HESS data analysis of this sourceand on possible associations with the pulsar and at other wavelengths. Weinvestigate the energy spectrum of HESS J1718-385 that shows a clear peak. Thisis only the second time a VHE gamma-ray spectral maximum from a cosmic sourcewas observed, the first being the Vela X pulsar wind nebula.

Domaines: Phénomènes cosmiques de haute energie [astro-ph.HE]; Phénomènes cosmiques de haute energie [astro-ph.HE]

H. E. S. S Collaboration: S. Carrigan, Yves Gallant, J. A. Hinton, Nukri Komin, K. Kosack, et al.. Discovery of the candidate pulsar wind nebula HESS J1718-385 in very-high-energy gamma-rays. 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2007), Jul 2007, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. pp.663-666. ⟨hal-00430264⟩