The Supernova Remnant MSH 15-52 has been observed in very high energy (VHE) γ-rays using the HESS 4-telescope array located in Namibia. A γ-ray signal is detected at the 25 sigma level during an exposure of 22.1 h live time. The image reveals an elliptically shaped emission region around the pulsar PSR B1509-58, with semi-major axis ~6′ in the NW-SE direction and semi-minor axis ~2′. This morphology coincides with the diffuse pulsar wind nebula as observed at X-ray energies by ROSAT. The overall energy spectrum from 280 GeV up to 40 TeV can be fitted by a power law with photon index Γ=2.27±0.03stat± 0.20syst. The detected emission can be plausibly explained by inverse Compton scattering of accelerated relativistic electrons with soft photons.
Discovery of extended VHE gamma-ray emission from the asymmetric pulsar wind nebula in MSH 15-52 with HESS
- F. Aharonian et al. (H.E.S.S. Collaboration)
- Astronomy & Astrophysics 435, L17-L20 (2005)
- 2005
Abstract
Auxiliary informations
H.E.S.S. data points for Figure 3
Energy interval Mean energy Flux Flux Error
[TeV] [TeV] [/TeV cm^2 s]
0.28 0.34 0.31 1.3e-10 3.2e-11
0.34 0.49 0.41 3.6e-11 3.8e-12
0.49 0.73 0.60 1.9e-11 1.6e-12
0.73 1.1 0.89 7.2e-12 6.5e-12
1.1 1.6 1.31 3.2e-12 6.5e-13
1.6 2.3 1.90 1.6e-12 1.5e-13
2.3 3.6 2.87 5.5e-13 7.0e-14
3.6 4.8 4.15 2.2e-13 3.4e-14
4.8 7.6 6.09 9.5e-14 1.7e-14
7.6 10.4 8.90 4.7e-14 9.5e-15
10.4 15.7 12.8 1.2e-14 4.1e-15
15.7 23.2 19.1 6.2e-15 2.0e-15
23.2 34.8 28.4 2.4e-15 1.2e-15
34.8 46.2 40.1 7.8e-16 5.5e-16
Remarks: Statistical errors only. Systematic error on energy scale estimated to 25%. See paper for details.
H.E.S.S. sky plot of Figure 2
Remarks: The plot is smoothed with a Gaussian (0.04°) according to the instrument’s point spread function. See paper for details.
