2008/06/06 by J. W. T. Hessels, David J. Nice, D. J. Nice +25
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Binary pulsar #Galaxy #Luminosity #Millisecond pulsar #Nebula #Physics #Pulsar #Pulsar planet #Pulsar wind nebula #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Stars #Vela #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/590908
13 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
arxiv created 2008/06/06 · openalex publication_date 2008/07/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present the discovery of the Vela-like radio pulsar J1856+0245 in the Arecibo PALFA survey. PSR J1856+0245 has a spin period of 81 ms, a characteristic age of 21 kyr, and a spin-down luminosity Ė = 4.6 × 10 36 ergs s −1 . It is positionally coincident with the TeV γ-ray source HESS J1857+026, which has no other known counterparts. Young, energetic pulsars create wind nebulae, and more than a dozen pulsar wind nebulae have been associated with very high energy (100 GeV-100 TeV) γ-ray sources discovered with the HESS telescope. The γ-ray emission seen from HESS J1857+026 is potentially produced by a pulsar wind nebula powered by PSR J1856+0245; faint X-ray emission detected by ASCA at the pulsar's position supports this hypothesis. The inferred γ-ray efficiency is γ = L γ /Ė =3.1 % (1-10 TeV, for a distance of 9 kpc), comparable to that observed in similar associations.