Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hinton, J. A
• Skilton, J. L
• Funk, S
• Brucker, J
• Aharonian, F. A
• Dubus, G
• Fiasson, A
• Gallant, Y
• Hofmann, W
• Marcowith, A
• Reimer, O

Titel

HESS J0632+057: A New Gamma-Ray Binary?

Ist Teil von

• The Astrophysical journal, 2009-01, Vol.690 (2), p.L101-L104

Ort / Verlag

IOP Publishing

Erscheinungsjahr

2009

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) survey of the Galactic plane has established the existence of a substantial number (~ 40) of Galactic TeV gamma -ray sources, a large fraction of which remain unidentified. HESS J0632+057 is one of a small fraction of these objects, which is point-like in nature (<2' rms), and is one of only two point-like sources that remain unidentified. Follow-up observations of this object with XMM-Newton have revealed an X-ray source coincident with the TeV source and with the massive star MWC 148, of the spectral type B0pe. This source exhibits a hard spectrum, consistent with an absorbed power law with Gamma = 1.26 ± 0.04, and shows significant variability on hour timescales. We discuss this spatial coincidence and the implied spectral energy distribution of this object and argue that it is likely a new gamma -ray binary system with a close resemblance to the three known members of this class and, in particular, to LS I +61 303. Further, X-ray, radio, and optical observations of this system are needed to firmly establish HESS J0632+057 as a new member of this rare class of Galactic objects.