Cosmic bursts in a new binary gamma-ray system

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Cosmic bursts in a new binary gamma-ray system







An international collaboration between the MAGIC telescopes of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) and the VERITAS network of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) has discovered a very high energy gamma ray emission from the PSR binary system J2032 + 4127 / MT91 213 , an eccentric pair of stars gravitationally linked with an orbital period of 50 years.



Binary emitting gamma systems are atypical objects. In these systems, a neutron star or a black hole, remnants of the final stage of stellar evolution, orbit around a massive star. Few binary systems have been detected in the domain of very high energy gamma rays. So far, fewer than 10 sources of this type have been discovered, although, in most cases, the nature of the compact object or stellar remnant is unknown, that is, whether it is a neutron star or a black hole. .



In 2002, the HEGRA telescopes in La Palma detected a gamma ray emission from a large source of unidentified nature: TeV J2032 + 4130. It was not until 2008 that the Fermi-LAT satellite discovered a highly magnetized or pulsar neutron star, with the name PSR J2032 + 4127, which seemed to be responsible for the emission of this unknown source. The surprise came in 2015 when it was learned that this pulsar is, in fact, paired with the star MT91 213 and that it takes 50 years to complete an orbit around it. However, the most interesting thing for the gamma ray community of this discovery was that the closest approach between the pulsar and the star was going to take place in November 2017. According to Alicia López Oramas, researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) and one of the main authors of the study, "during this approach it was expected that such a unique system would emit very high energy gamma rays and this opportunity could not be missed".







The pulsar PSR J2032 + 4127 at the time of closest approach to the star MT91 213, a blue star with a disk of matter around it. (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)



Immediately a joint observation campaign was launched to detect cosmic outbursts from this binary system. During 2016, both observatories began to look for emissions from this source, but all they could detect was the extensive TeV broadcast J2032 + 4130. "This source is probably a nebula, the shell of a supernova remnant, which is being fed by the pulsar - explains Ralph Bird, researcher at the University of California Los Angeles -, so, during 2016, all we could see, after 50 hours of observations, it was the weak emission of this source ".



The exciting events came in 2017. In September of that year, before the planned approach, astronomers detected for the first time an increase in the emission of the new binary gamma-ray system. "The gamma-ray flux doubled the value measured from the extended source," says Tyler Williamson, a graduate student at the University of Delaware (UD). However, the most amazing event took place in November. "During the closest approach between the star and the pulsar, the flow increased 10 times in a single night," recalls Jamie Holder, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UD.



Before this detection, only another binary gamma ray system with an identified pulsar was known. In both cases, the particles are accelerated in the shock created between the stellar wind and the pulsar producing the emission of gamma rays. "Knowledge of the nature of the compact object allows us to properly study the acceleration of the particles and gamma ray emission models," explains Oscar Blanch Bigas, a researcher at the Institute of Physics of Alte Energies (IFAE).



The Cherenkov Telescope Network (CTA), a new generation observatory that has just inaugurated the prototype of what may be its first large size telescope (LST-1) in the ORM, will help to detect new binary gamma systems. "With an estimated population of between 100 and 200 binary gamma systems in our galaxy, CTA will probably reveal the nature of these systems and provide new insights into their evolution," concludes Javier Herrera Llorente, a researcher who has participated in the study and manager of the CTA project in the IAC.



The Spanish community has participated in MAGIC since its inception through several public research centers, including the IAC, the IFAE, the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Complutense University of Madrid ( UCM). In addition, the MAGIC data center is the Port of Scientific Information (PIC), a collaboration of the IFAE and the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT). (Source: IAC)

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