DISCOVERY OF PULSED γ-RAYS FROM PSR J0034–0534 WITH THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE: A CASE FOR CO-LOCATED RADIO AND γ-RAY EMISSION REGIONS

摘要

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) have been firmly established as a class of γ-ray emitters via the detection of pulsations above 0.1?GeV from eight MSPs by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Using 13 months of LAT data, significant γ-ray pulsations at the radio period have been detected from the MSP PSR J0034–0534, making it the ninth clear MSP detection by the LAT. The γ-ray light curve shows two peaks separated by 0.274 ± 0.015 in phase which are very nearly aligned with the radio peaks, a phenomenon seen only in the Crab pulsar until now. The ≥0.1?GeV spectrum of this pulsar is well fit by an exponentially cutoff power law with a cutoff energy of 1.8 ± 0.6 ± 0.1?GeV and a photon index of 1.5 ± 0.2 ± 0.1, first errors are statistical and second are systematic. The near-alignment of the radio and γ-ray peaks strongly suggests that the radio and γ-ray emission regions are co-located and both are the result of caustic formation.