Gamma-ray spectra of globular clusters in MW Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Song D.
  2. Macias O.
  3. Horiuchi S.
  4. Crocker R.M.
  5. Nataf D.M.
  6. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

Millisecond pulsars are very likely the main source of gamma-ray emission from globular clusters. However, the relative contributions of two separate emission processes - curvature radiation from millisecond pulsar magnetospheres versus inverse Compton emission from relativistic pairs launched into the globular cluster environment by millisecond pulsars - have long been unclear. To address this, we search for evidence of inverse Compton emission in 8-yr Fermi-LAT data from the directions of 157 Milky Way globular clusters. We find a mildly statistically significant (3.8{sigma}) correlation between the measured globular cluster gamma-ray luminosities and their photon field energy densities. However, this may also be explained by a hidden correlation between the photon field densities and the stellar encounter rates of globular clusters. Analysed in toto, we demonstrate that the gamma-ray emission of globular clusters can be resolved spectrally into two components: (i) an exponentially cut-off power law and (ii) a pure power law. The latter component - which we uncover at a significance of 8.2{sigma} - has a power index of 2.79 +/- 0.25. It is most naturally interpreted as inverse Compton emission by cosmic-ray electrons and positrons injected by millisecond pulsars. We find the luminosity of this power-law component is comparable to, or slightly smaller than, the luminosity of the curved component, suggesting the fraction of millisecond pulsar spin-down luminosity into relativistic leptons is similar to the fraction of the spin-down luminosity into prompt magnetospheric radiation.

Keywords
  1. milky-way-galaxy
  2. globular-star-clusters
  3. pulsars
  4. gamma-ray-astronomy
  5. metallicity
  6. stellar-masses
  7. photometry
  8. infrared-astronomy
  9. visible-astronomy
  10. ultraviolet-astronomy
  11. x-ray-sources
  12. stellar-distance
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2021MNRAS.507.5161S
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/507/5161
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/507/5161

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http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/507/5161
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/507/5161
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/507/5161
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https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/507/5161/tablea1?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/507/5161/tablea1?

History

2024-09-10T15:16:29Z
Resource record created
2024-09-10T15:16:29Z
Created
2024-09-13T09:29:43Z
Updated

Contact

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CDS support team
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CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
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