Document Type

Article

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Disciplines

Astrophysics and Astronomy | Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Publication Details

The Astrophysical Journal .

© 2014. The American Astronomical Society

Abstract

HESS J0632+057 is the only gamma-ray binary known so far whose position in the sky allows observations with ground-based observatories in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Here we report on long-term observations of HESS J0632+057 conducted with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System and High Energy Stereoscopic System Cherenkov telescopes and the X-ray satellite Swift, spanning a time range from 2004 to 2012 and covering most of the system's orbit. The very-high-energy (VHE) emission is found to be variable and is correlated with that at X-ray energies. An orbital period of days is derived from the X-ray data set, which is compatible with previous results, P = (321 ± 5) days. The VHE light curve shows a distinct maximum at orbital phases close to 0.3, or about 100 days after periastron passage, which coincides with the periodic enhancement of the X-ray emission. Furthermore, the analysis of the TeV data shows for the first time a statistically significant (>6.5σ) detection at orbital phases 0.6-0.9. The obtained gamma-ray and X-ray light curves and the correlation of the source emission at these two energy bands are discussed in the context of the recent ephemeris obtained for the system. Our results are compared to those reported for other gamma-ray binaries.

Download

Share

COinS