1. Detection of Gamma-Ray Emission from the Vela Pulsar Wind Nebula with AGILE
- Author
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A. Pellizzoni, M. Galli, A. Giuliani, F. Verrecchia, Francesco Lazzarotto, E. Vallazza, C. Pittori, T. Contessi, N. D'Amico, G. Piano, G. De Paris, A. Argan, Sandro Mereghetti, E. Rossi, E. Scalise, A. Morselli, Arnaud Ferrari, E. Striani, P. Santolamazza, Andrea Bulgarelli, F. Fuschino, I. Lapshov, S. Colafrancesco, L. Salotti, I. Donnarumma, Y. Evangelista, Massimo Rapisarda, G. Di Cocco, A. Possenti, Enrico Costa, S. Sabatini, Alda Rubini, P. W. Cattaneo, G. Pucella, P. Picozza, Marco Tavani, G. Barbiellini, Elena Moretti, Martino Marisaldi, A. Rappoldi, D. Zanello, M. Prest, V. Cocco, M. Mastropietro, F. Perotti, M. Burgay, V. Vittorini, A. W. Chen, Claudio Labanti, A. Zambra, Paolo Lipari, P. Giommi, J. Palfreyman, Giovanni F. Bignami, P. A. Caraveo, M. Trifoglio, M. Fiorini, E. Del Monte, Aidan Hotan, F. Longo, Angelo Antonelli, Marco Feroci, Luigi Pacciani, Maura Pilia, Alessio Trois, Paolo Esposito, Fulvio Gianotti, G. Di Persio, Filippo D'Ammando, Paolo Soffitta, S. Vercellone, Pellizzoni A, Trois A, Tavani M, Pilia M, Giuliani A, Pucella G, Esposito P, Sabatini S, Piano G, Argan A, Barbiellini G, Bulgarelli A, Burgay M, Caraveo P, Cattaneo PW, Chen AW, Cocco V, Contessi T, Costa E, DAmmando F, Del Monte E, De Paris G, Di Cocco G, Di Persio G, Donnarumma I, Evangelista Y, Feroci M, Ferrari A, Fiorini M, Fuschino F, Galli M, Gianotti F, Hotan A, Labanti C, Lapshov I, Lazzarotto F, Lipari P, Longo F, Marisaldi M, Mastropietro M, Mereghetti S, Moretti E, Morselli A, Pacciani L, Palfreyman J, Perotti F, Picozza P, Pittori C, Possenti A, Prest M, Rapisarda M, Rappoldi A, Rossi E, Rubini A, Santolamazza P, Scalise E, Soffitta P, Striani E, Trifoglio M, Vallazza E, Vercellone S, Verrecchia F, Vittorini V, Zambra A, Zanello D, Giommi P, Colafrancesco S, Antonelli A, Salotti L, D'Amico N, Bignami GF, A., Pellizzoni, A., Troi, M., Tavani, M., Pilia, A., Giuliani, G., Pucella, P., Esposito, S., Sabatini, G., Piano, A., Argan, G., Barbiellini, A., Bulgarelli, M., Burgay, P., Caraveo, P. W., Cattaneo, A. W., Chen, V., Cocco, T., Contessi, E., Costa, F., D'Ammando, E. D., Monte, G. D., Pari, G. D., Cocco, G. D., Persio, I., Donnarumma, Y., Evangelista, M., Feroci, A., Ferrari, M., Fiorini, F., Fuschino, M., Galli, F., Gianotti, A., Hotan, C., Labanti, I., Lapshov, F., Lazzarotto, P., Lipari, Longo, Francesco, M., Marisaldi, M., Mastropietro, S., Mereghetti, E., Moretti, A., Morselli, L., Pacciani, J., Palfreyman, F., Perotti, P., Picozza, C., Pittori, A., Possenti, M., Prest, M., Rapisarda, A., Rappoldi, E., Rossi, A., Rubini, P., Santolamazza, E., Scalise, P., Soffitta, E., Striani, M., Trifoglio, E., Vallazza, S., Vercellone, F., Verrecchia, V., Vittorini, A., Zambra, D., Zanello, P., Giommi, S., Colafrancesco, A., Antonelli, L., Salotti, N., D'Amico, and G. F., Bignami
- Subjects
Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Population ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Vela ,Pulsar wind nebula ,High Energy Gamma-ray Astronomy ,gamma detection ,Relativistic particle ,AGILE ,Pulsar Wind Nebulae ,Pulsar ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,AGILE satellite ,education ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,pulsar ,Physics ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,education.field_of_study ,Multidisciplinary ,Vela Pulsar Wind Nebula, AGILE, gamma-rays ,Gamma ray ,Astronomy ,Physics::Space Physics ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Phenomenology (particle physics) ,X-ray pulsar - Abstract
Pulsars are known to power winds of relativistic particles that can produce bright nebulae by interacting with the surrounding medium. These pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are observed in the radio, optical, x-rays and, in some cases, also at TeV energies, but the lack of information in the gamma-ray band prevents from drawing a comprehensive multiwavelength picture of their phenomenology and emission mechanisms. Using data from the AGILE satellite, we detected the Vela pulsar wind nebula in the energy range from 100 MeV to 3 GeV. This result constrains the particle population responsible for the GeV emission, probing multivavelength PWN models, and establishes a class of gamma-ray emitters that could account for a fraction of the unidentified Galactic gamma-ray sources., Comment: Accepted by Science; first published online on December 31, 2009 in Science Express. Science article and Supporting Online Material are available at http://www.sciencemag.org
- Published
- 2009
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