Journal
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 497, Issue 1, Pages 648-655Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa1876
Keywords
gamma rays: general; pulsars: individual: PSR B1259-63; stars: emission-line, Be; X-rays: binaries; X-rays: individual: PSR B1259-63; radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
Categories
Funding
- Science Foundation Ireland [07/RFP/PHYF295]
- state of Baden-Wurttemberg through bwHPC
- DFG [MA 7807/2-1]
- DJEI/DES/SFI/HEA Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC)
- COST Actions [CA16214, CA16104]
- Irish Research Council [GOIPG/2014/453]
- Irish Research Council (IRC) [GOIPG/2014/453] Funding Source: Irish Research Council (IRC)
- Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) [07/RFP/PHYF295] Funding Source: Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
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PSR B1259-63 is a gamma-ray binary system hosting a radio pulsar orbiting around an O9.5Ve star, LS 2883, with a period of similar to 3.4 yr. The interaction of the pulsar wind with the LS 2883 outflow leads to unpulsed broad-band emission in the radio, X-rays, GeV, and TeV domains. While the radio, X-ray, and TeV light curves show rather similar behaviour, the GeV light curve appears very different with a huge outburst about a month after a periastron. The energy release during this outburst seems to significantly exceed the spin-down luminosity of the pulsar and both the GeV light curve and the energy release vary from one orbit to the next. In this paper, we present for the first time the results of optical observations of the system in 2017, and also reanalyse the available X-ray and GeV data. We present a new model in which the GeV data are explained as a combination of the bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton emission from the unshocked and weakly shocked electrons of the pulsar wind. The X-ray and TeV emission is produced by synchrotron and inverse Compton emission of energetic electrons accelerated on a strong shock arising due to stellar/pulsar winds collision. The brightness of the GeV flare is explained in our model as a beaming effect of the energy released in a cone oriented, during the time of the flare, in the direction of the observer.
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