Discovery of TeV gamma-ray emission from the pulsar wind nebula 3C 58 by MAGIC

摘要

The pulsar wind nebula (PWN) 3C 58 is one of the historical very-high-energy (VHE; E> 100 GeV) gamma-ray source candidates. It has been compared to the Crab Nebula due to their morphological similarities. This object was detected by Fermi-LAT with a spectrum extending beyond 100 GeV. We analyzed 81 hours of 3C 58 data taken with the MAGIC telescopes and we detected VHE gamma-ray emission for the first time at TeV energies with a significance of 5.7 sigma and an integral flux of 0.65% C.U. above 1 TeV. According to our results 3C 58 is the least luminous PWN ever detected at VHE and the one with the lowest flux at VHE to date. We compare our results with the expectations of time-dependent models in which electrons up-scatter photon fields. The best representation favors a distance to the PWN of 2 kpc and Far Infrared (FIR) comparable to CMB photon fields. Hadronic contribution from the hosting supernova remnant (SNR) requires unrealistic energy budget given the density of the medium, disfavoring cosmic ray acceleration in the SNR as origin of the VHE gammaray emission.