Detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from the vicinity of PSR B1706-44 and G343.1-2.3 with H.E.S.S

A. Abramowski , Fabio Acero (1) , F. Aharonian , A.G. Akhperjanian , G. Anton , A. Barnacka , U. Barres de Almeida (2) , A.R. Bazer-Bachi (3) , Y. Becherini (4) , J. Becker , B. Behera , K. Bernlöhr , A. Bochow , C. Boisson (5) , J. Bolmont (6) , P. Bordas , V. Borrel (3) , J. Brucker , F. Brun , P. Brun (2) , T. Bulik , I. Büsching , S. Carrigan , S. Casanova , M. Cerruti (5) , P.M. Chadwick , A. Charbonnier (6) , R.C.G. Chaves , A. Cheesebrough , J. Conrad , L.-M. Chounet (7) , A.C. Clapson , G. Coignet (8) , M. Dalton , M.K. Daniel , I.D. Davids , B. Degrange (7) , C. Deil , H.J. Dickinson , A. Djannati-Ataï (9) , W. Domainko , L.O'C. Drury , F. Dubois (8) , G. Dubus (10) , J. Dyks , M. Dyrda , K. Egberts , P. Eger , P. Espigat (4) , L. Fallon , C. Farnier (1) , S. Fegan (7) , F. Feinstein (1) , M.V. Fernandes , A. Fiasson (8) , A. Förster , G. Fontaine (7) , M. Füssling , S. Gabici (3) , Y.A. Gallant (1) , H. Gast , L. Gérard (4) , D. Gerbig , B. Giebels (7) , J.F. Glicenstein (2) , B. Glück , P. Goret (2) , D. Göring , J.D. Hague , D. Hampf , M. Hauser , S. Heinz , G. Heinzelmann , G. Henri (10) , G. Hermann , J.A. Hinton , A. Hoffmann , W. Hofmann , P. Hofverberg , M. Holleran , S. Hoppe , D. Horns , A. Jacholkowska (6) , O.C. de Jager , C. Jahn , M. Jamrozy , I. Jung , M.A. Kastendieck , K. Katarzy'Nski , U. Katz , S. Kaufmann , M. Kerschhaggl , D. Khangulyan , B. Kh'Elifi (7) , D. Keogh , W. Klu'Zniak , T. Kneiske , Nu. Komin (8) , K. Kosack (2) , R. Kossakowski (8) , H. Laffont , G. Lamanna (8) , M. Lemoine-Goumard (11) , J.-P. Lenain (5) , D. Lennarz , T. Lohse , A. Lopatin , C.-C. Lu , V. Marandon (4) , A. Marcowith (1) , Julien Masbou (8) , D. Maurin (6) , N. Maxted , T.J.L. Mccomb , M.C. Medina , J. Méhault (1) , R. Moderski , Emmanuel Moulin (2) , M. Naumann-Godo , M. de Naurois (6) , D. Nedbal , D. Nekrassov , N. Nguyen , B. Nicholas , J. Niemiec , S.J. Nolan , S. Ohm , J.-F. Olive (3) , E. de Oña Wilhelmi , B. Opitz , M. Ostrowski , M. Panter , M. Paz Arribas , G. Pedaletti , G. Pelletier (10) , P.-O. Petrucci (10) , S. Pita (4) , G. P¨uhlhofer , M. Punch (4) , A. Quirrenbach , M. Raue , S.M. Rayner , A. Reimer , O. Reimer , M. Renaud (4) , R. de Los Reyes , F. Rieger , J. Ripken , L. Rob (7) , S. Rosier-Lees (8) , G. Rowell , B. Rudak , C.B. Rulten , J. Ruppel , F. Ryde , V. Sahakian , A. Santangelo , R. Schlickeiser , F.M. Schöck , A. Schönwald , U. Schwanke , S. Schwarzburg , S. Schwemmer , A. Shalchi , I. Sushch , M. Sikora , J.L. Skilton , H. Sol (5) , G. Spengler , Ł. Stawarz , R. Steenkamp (1) , C. Stegmann , F. Stinzing , A. Szostek (10) , P.H. Tam , J.-P. Tavernet (6) , R. Terrier (4) , O. Tibolla , M. Tluczykont (3, 7) , K. Valerius , C. van Eldik , G. Vasileiadis (1) , C. Venter , J.P. Vialle (8) , A. Viana , P. Vincent (6) , M. Vivier (2) , H.J. Völk , F. Volpe (7) , S. Vorobiov (1) , S.J. Wagner , M. Ward , A. Wierzcholska , A. Zajczyk , A.A. Zdziarski , A. Zech (5) , H.-S. Zechlin , G. Dubner , E. Giacani

1 LPTA - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Astroparticules
2 IRFU - Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
3 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements
4 APC (UMR_7164) - AstroParticule et Cosmologie
5 LUTH (UMR_8102) - Laboratoire Univers et Théories
6 LPNHE - Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies
7 LLR - Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
8 LAPP - Laboratoire d'Annecy de Physique des Particules
9 APC - AHE - APC - Astrophysique des Hautes Energies
10 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
11 GLAST

The gamma-ray pulsar PSR B1706-44 and the adjacent supernova remnant (SNR) candidate G343.1-2.3 were observed by H.E.S.S. during a dedicated observation campaign in 2007. As a result of this observation campaign, a new source of very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission, HESS J1708-443, was detected with a statistical significance of 7 sigma, although no significant point-like emission was detected at the position of the energetic pulsar itself. In this paper, the morphological and spectral analyses of the newly-discovered TeV source are presented. The centroid of HESS J1708-443 is considerably offset from the pulsar and located near the apparent center of the SNR, at RA(J2000) = 17h08m11s +/- 17s and Dec(J2000) = -44d20' +/- 4'. The source is found to be significantly more extended than the H.E.S.S. point spread function (~0.1 deg), with an intrinsic Gaussian width of 0.29 deg +/- 0.04 deg. Its integral flux between 1 and 10 TeV is ~ 3.8 x 10^-12 ph cm^-2 s^-1, equivalent to 17% of the Crab Nebula flux in the same energy range. The measured energy spectrum is well-fit by a power law with a relatively hard photon index Gamma = 2.0 +/- 0.1 (stat) +/- 0.2 (sys). Additional multi-wavelength data, including 330 MHz VLA observations, were used to investigate the VHE gamma-ray source's possible associations with the pulsar wind nebula of PSR B1706-44 and/or with the complex radio structure of the partial shell-type SNR G343.1-2.3.

Keywords: Gamma rays: observations; pulsars: PSRB1706−44; ISM: G343.1−2.3

Domains: Physics [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]; High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena [astro-ph.HE]; Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]; High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena [astro-ph.HE]

A. Abramowski, Fabio Acero, F. Aharonian, A.G. Akhperjanian, G. Anton, et al.. Detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from the vicinity of PSR B1706-44 and G343.1-2.3 with H.E.S.S. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2011, 528, pp.A143. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201015381⟩. ⟨in2p3-00563803⟩