Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Originally published in Science Express on 7 July 2005
Science 29 July 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5735, pp. 746 - 749
DOI: 10.1126/science.1113764
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Discovery of Very High Energy Gamma Rays Associated with an X-ray Binary

F. Aharonian,1 A. G. Akhperjanian,2 K.-M. Aye,3 A. R. Bazer-Bachi,4 M. Beilicke,5 W. Benbow,1 D. Berge,1 P. Berghaus,6* K. Bernlöhr,1,7 C. Boisson,8 O. Bolz,1 V. Borrel,4 I. Braun,1 F. Breitling,7 A. M. Brown,3 J. Bussons Gordo,9 P. M. Chadwick,3 L.-M. Chounet,10 R. Cornils,5 L. Costamante,1 B. Degrange,10 H. J. Dickinson,3 A. Djannati-Ataï,6 L. O'C. Drury,11 G. Dubus,10{dagger} D. Emmanoulopoulos,12 P. Espigat,6 F. Feinstein,9 P. Fleury,10 G. Fontaine,10 Y. Fuchs,13 S. Funk,1 Y. A. Gallant,9 B. Giebels,10 S. Gillessen,1 J. F. Glicenstein,14 P. Goret,14 C. Hadjichristidis,3 M. Hauser,12 G. Heinzelmann,5 G. Henri,13 G. Hermann,1 J. A. Hinton,1 W. Hofmann,1 M. Holleran,15 D. Horns,1 A. Jacholkowska,9 O. C. de Jager,15 B. Khélifi,1 Nu. Komin,7 A. Konopelko,1,7 I. J. Latham,3 R. Le Gallou,3 A. Lemière,6 M. Lemoine-Goumard,10 N. Leroy,10 T. Lohse,7 A. Marcowith,4 J.-M. Martin,8 O. Martineau-Huynh,16 C. Masterson,1 T. J. L. McComb,3 M. de Naurois,16{dagger} S. J. Nolan,3 A. Noutsos,3 K. J. Orford,3 J. L. Osborne,3 M. Ouchrif,16 M. Panter,1 G. Pelletier,13 S. Pita,6 G. Pühlhofer,1,12 M. Punch,6 B. C. Raubenheimer,15 M. Raue,5 J. Raux,16 S. M. Rayner,3 A. Reimer,17 O. Reimer,17 J. Ripken,5 L. Rob,18 L. Rolland,16 G. Rowell,1 V. Sahakian,2 L. Saugé,13 S. Schlenker,7 R. Schlickeiser,17 C. Schuster,17 U. Schwanke,7 M. Siewert,17 H. Sol,8 D. Spangler,3 R. Steenkamp,19 C. Stegmann,7 J.-P. Tavernet,16 R. Terrier,6 C. G. Théoret,6 M. Tluczykont,10 G. Vasileiadis,9 C. Venter,15 P. Vincent,16 H. J. Völk,1 S. J. Wagner12

X-ray binaries are composed of a normal star in orbit around a neutron star or stellar-mass black hole. Radio and x-ray observations have led to the presumption that some x-ray binaries called microquasars behave as scaled-down active galactic nuclei. Microquasars have resolved radio emission that is thought to arise from a relativistic outflow akin to active galactic nuclei jets, in which particles can be accelerated to large energies. Very high energy {gamma}-rays produced by the interactions of these particles have been observed from several active galactic nuclei. Using the High Energy Stereoscopic System, we find evidence for gamma-ray emission of >100 gigaelectron volts from a candidate microquasar, LS 5039, showing that particles are also accelerated to very high energies in these systems.

1 Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Post Office Box 103980, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany.
2 Yerevan Physics Institute, 2 Alikhanian Brothers Street, 375036 Yerevan, Armenia.
3 Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.
4 Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, CNRS/UPS, 9 av. du Colonel Roche, BP 4346, F-31029 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.
5 Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany.
6 APC, UMR 7164 du CNRS, 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
7 Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstr. 15, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
8 Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTH), UMR 8102 du CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, Section de Meudon, F-92195 Meudon Cedex, France.
9 Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Astroparticules, IN2P3/CNRS, Université Montpellier II, CC 70, Place Eugène Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
10 Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, IN2P3/CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau, France.
11 Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 5 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Ireland.
12 Landessternwarte, Königstuhl, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
13 Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, INSU/CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier, BP 53, F-38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
14 DAPNIA/DSM/CEA, CE Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
15 Unit for Space Physics, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa.
16 Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies, IN2P3/CNRS, Universités Paris VI & VII, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.
17 Institut für Theoretische Physik, Lehrstuhl IV: Weltraum und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany.
18 Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics (IPNP), Charles University, V Holesovickach 2, 180 00 Prague 8, Czech Republic.
19 University of Namibia, Private Bag 13301, Windhoek, Namibia.

Published online 7 July 2005

Include this information when citing this paper.

* Present address: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences, Campus de la Plaine, CP230, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: denauroi{at}in2p3.fr; dubus{at}in2p3.fr

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sky.
F. Aharonian (2007)
Science 315, 70-72
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Variable Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from the Microquasar LS I +61 303.
J. Albert, E. Aliu, H. Anderhub, P. Antoranz, A. Armada, M. Asensio, C. Baixeras, J. A. Barrio, M. Bartelt, H. Bartko, et al. (2006)
Science 312, 1771-1773
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)