The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)

Precise Measurements of TeV Halos around Geminga and Monogem Pulsars with HAWC

  • A. Albert,
  • R. Alfaro,
  • C. Alvarez,
  • J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez,
  • D. Avila Rojas,
  • H. A. Ayala Solares,
  • R. Babu,
  • E. Belmont-Moreno,
  • A. Bernal,
  • K. S. Caballero-Mora,
  • T. Capistrán,
  • A. Carramiñana,
  • S. Casanova,
  • U. Cotti,
  • J. Cotzomi,
  • S. Coutiño de León,
  • E. de la Fuente,
  • D. Depaoli,
  • N. Di Lalla,
  • R. Diaz Hernandez,
  • B. L. Dingus,
  • M. A. DuVernois,
  • M. Durocher,
  • J. C. Díaz-Vélez,
  • K. Engel,
  • C. Espinoza,
  • K. L. Fan,
  • K. Fang,
  • N. Fraija,
  • J. A. García-González,
  • F. Garfias,
  • H. Goksu,
  • M. M. González,
  • J. A. Goodman,
  • S. Groetsch,
  • J. P. Harding,
  • S. Hernández-Cadena,
  • I. Herzog,
  • P. Hüntemeyer,
  • D. Huang,
  • F. Hueyotl-Zahuantitla,
  • A. Iriarte,
  • V. Joshi,
  • S. Kaufmann,
  • D. Kieda,
  • A. Lara,
  • W. H. Lee,
  • J. Lee,
  • H. León Vargas,
  • J. T. Linnemann,
  • A. L. Longinotti,
  • G. Luis-Raya,
  • K. Malone,
  • O. Martinez,
  • J. Martínez-Castro,
  • J. A. Matthews,
  • P. Miranda-Romagnoli,
  • J. A. Montes,
  • J. A. Morales-Soto,
  • E. Moreno,
  • M. Mostafá,
  • A. Nayerhoda,
  • L. Nellen,
  • R. Noriega-Papaqui,
  • L. Olivera-Nieto,
  • N. Omodei,
  • Y. Pérez Araujo,
  • E. G. Pérez-Pérez,
  • C. D. Rho,
  • D. Rosa-González,
  • H. Salazar,
  • D. Salazar-Gallegos,
  • A. Sandoval,
  • M. Schneider,
  • G. Schwefer,
  • J. Serna-Franco,
  • Y. Son,
  • R. W. Springer,
  • O. Tibolla,
  • K. Tollefson,
  • I. Torres,
  • R. Torres-Escobedo,
  • R. Turner,
  • F. Urea-Mena,
  • E. Varela,
  • L. Villaseñor,
  • X. Wang,
  • I. J. Watson,
  • E. Willox,
  • H. Wu,
  • S. Yun-Cárcamo,
  • H. Zhou,
  • C. de León,
  • HAWC Collaboration,
  • M. Di Mauro

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad738e
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 974, no. 2
p. 246

Abstract

Read online

We present the most precise measurements to date for the spatial extension and energy spectrum of the γ -ray region between a pulsar’s wind nebula and the interstellar medium, better known as the halo, present around Geminga and PSR B0656+14 (Monogem) using ∼2398 days of >1 TeV data collected by the HAWC observatory. We interpret the data using a physically motivated model for the diffuse γ -ray emission generated from positrons and electrons (e ^± ) injected by the pulsar wind nebula and inverse Compton scattering with interstellar radiation fields. We find the morphologies of the regions inside these halos are characterized by an inhibited diffusion that are approximately three orders of magnitudes smaller than the Galactic average. We also obtain the e ^± emission efficiencies of 6.6% and 5.1%, respectively, for Geminga and Monogem. These results have remarkable consequences for the study of the particle diffusion in the region between the pulsar wind nebulae and the interstellar medium, and for the interpretation of the flux of positrons measured by the AMS-02 experiment above 10 GeV.

Keywords