Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the extragalactic pulsar wind nebula N157B
August 25, 2012, H.E.S.S. High Energy Stereoscopic System
The first extragalactic pulsar wind nebula (PWN) detected in gamma rays is reported: N157B, located in the large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The detection of a PWN at such a large distance is possible due to the pulsar's favourable spin-down luminosity and a bright infrared photon-field serving as an inverse-Compton-scattering target for accelerated leptons. A leptonic multi-wavelength model shows that an energy of about 4 x 1049 erg is stored in electrons and positrons in the Nebula, which implies that the pulsar's birth period was shorter than 10 ms. The paper can be found on the preprint server: arXiv:1208.1636.
Die Welt 22.08.12
Eine Minute Physik
Kosmisches Gammalicht
Mit einem neues Teleskop in Namibia wollen Forscher das Geheimnis dieser Strahlung lösen
Von Norbert Lossau