The radio counterpart of the likely TeV binary HESS J0632+057

The few known gamma-ray binary systems are all associated with variable radio and X-ray emission. The TeV source HESS J0632+057, apparently associated with the Be star MWC 148, is plausibly I new member of this class. Following the identification of a variable X-ray counterpart to the TeV source we conducted Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and Very Large Array (VLA) observations in 2008 June-September to search for the radio counterpart of this object. A point-like radio source at the position of the star is detected in both 1280-MHz GMRT and 5-GHz VLA observations, with an average spectral index, alpha, of similar to 0.6. In the VLA data there is significant flux variability oil similar to month time-scales around the mean flux density of approximate to 0.3 mJy. These radio properties (and the overall spectral energy distribution) are consistent with an interpretation of HESS J0632+057 as a lower power analogue of the established gamma-ray binary systems.