Discovery of Very High Energy Gamma Rays Associated with an X-ray Binary

2005/07/08 by H. E. S. S. Collaboration, A. G. Akhperjanian, : +99 · 13 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Atomic physics #Binary number #Black hole (networking) #Galaxy #Gamma ray #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High energy #Neutron star #Physics #Pulsar #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1113764

published as Science 309:746-749,2005 · 9 pages, 3 figures (including Science Online Material). HESS collaboration homepage at http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/hfm/HESS/HESS.html

openalex publication_date 2005/07/08 · arxiv created 2005/08/12 · arxiv updated 2012/08/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

X-ray binaries are composed of a normal star in orbit around a neutron star or stellar-mass black hole. Radio and x-ray observations have led to the presumption that some x-ray binaries called microquasars behave as scaled-down active galactic nuclei. Microquasars have resolved radio emission that is thought to arise from a relativistic outflow akin to active galactic nuclei jets, in which particles can be accelerated to large energies. Very high energy gamma-rays produced by the interactions of these particles have been observed from several active galactic nuclei. Using the High Energy Stereoscopic System, we find evidence for gamma-ray emission of >100 gigaelectron volts from a candidate microquasar, LS 5039, showing that particles are also accelerated to very high energies in these systems.

Citations

• The NRAO VLA Sky Survey
• LS 5039: A runaway microquasar ejected from the galactic plane
• New massive X-ray binary candidates from the ROSAT Galactic Plane Survey I - Results from a cross-correlation with OB star catalogues
• The N Enrichment and Supernova Ejection of the Runaway Microquasar LS 5039

Cited by

• PROBING THE NATURE OF THE UNIDENTIFIED TeV GAMMA-RAY SOURCE HESS J0632+057 WITHSWIFT
• GeV Detection of HESS J0632+057
• Exploring the connection between the stellar wind and the non-thermal emission in LS 5039
• Gamma-ray follow-up studies onηCarinae
• On the multiwavelength spectrum of the microquasar 1E 1740.7-2942
• THE TeV BINARY HESS J0632+057 IN THE LOW AND HIGH X-RAY STATE
• A possible black hole in the -ray microquasar LS 5039
• Secondary leptons synchrotron emission from microquasar jets
• Status of very high energy γ-ray Astronomy as of early 2008
• Fermi-LAT and FAST observation of the gamma-ray binary HESS J0632+057
• Discovery of extended VHEγ-ray emission from the vicinity of the young massive stellar cluster Westerlund 1
• Explaining the extended GeV gamma-ray emission adjacent to HESS J1825-137
• XMM-Newton observations of HESS J1813-178 reveal a composite Supernova remnant