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Science. 2008 Nov 21;322(5905):1218-21. doi: 10.1126/science.1165572. Epub 2008 Oct 16.

The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope discovers the pulsar in the young galactic supernova remnant CTA 1.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

A A Abdo, M Ackermann, W B Atwood, L Baldini, J Ballet, G Barbiellini, M G Baring, D Bastieri, B M Baughman, K Bechtol, R Bellazzini, B Berenji, R D Blandford, E D Bloom, G Bogaert, E Bonamente, A W Borgland, J Bregeon, A Brez, M Brigida, P Bruel, T H Burnett, G A Caliandro, R A Cameron, P A Caraveo, P Carlson, J M Casandjian, C Cecchi, E Charles, A Chekhtman, C C Cheung, J Chiang, S Ciprini, R Claus, J Cohen-Tanugi, L R Cominsky, J Conrad, S Cutini, D S Davis, C D Dermer, A de Angelis, F de Palma, S W Digel, M Dormody, E do Couto E Silva, P S Drell, R Dubois, D Dumora, Y Edmonds, C Farnier, W B Focke, Y Fukazawa, S Funk, P Fusco, F Gargano, D Gasparrini, N Gehrels, S Germani, B Giebels, N Giglietto, F Giordano, T Glanzman, G Godfrey, I A Grenier, M-H Grondin, J E Grove, L Guillemot, S Guiriec, A K Harding, R C Hartman, E Hays, R E Hughes, G Jóhannesson, A S Johnson, R P Johnson, T J Johnson, W N Johnson, T Kamae, Y Kanai, G Kanbach, H Katagiri, N Kawai, M Kerr, T Kishishita, B Kiziltan, J Knödlseder, M L Kocian, N Komin, F Kuehn, M Kuss, L Latronico, M Lemoine-Goumard, F Longo, V Lonjou, F Loparco, B Lott, M N Lovellette, P Lubrano, A Makeev, M Marelli, M N Mazziotta, J E McEnery, S McGlynn, C Meurer, P F Michelson, T Mineo, W Mitthumsiri, T Mizuno, A A Moiseev, C Monte, M E Monzani, A Morselli, I V Moskalenko, S Murgia, T Nakamori, P L Nolan, E Nuss, M Ohno, T Ohsugi, A Okumura, N Omodei, E Orlando, J F Ormes, M Ozaki, D Paneque, J H Panetta, D Parent, V Pelassa, M Pepe, M Pesce-Rollins, G Piano, L Pieri, F Piron, T A Porter, S Rainò, R Rando, P S Ray, M Razzano, A Reimer, O Reimer, T Reposeur, S Ritz, L S Rochester, A Y Rodriguez, R W Romani, M Roth, F Ryde, H F-W Sadrozinski, D Sanchez, A Sander, P M Saz Parkinson, T L Schalk, A Sellerholm, C Sgrò, E J Siskind, D A Smith, P D Smith, G Spandre, P Spinelli, J-L Starck, M S Strickman, D J Suson, H Tajima, H Takahashi, T Takahashi, T Tanaka, J B Thayer, J G Thayer, D J Thompson, S E Thorsett, L Tibaldo, D F Torres, G Tosti, A Tramacere, T L Usher, A Van Etten, N Vilchez, V Vitale, P Wang, K Watters, B L Winer, K S Wood, H Yasuda, T Ylinen, M Ziegler

Affiliations

  1. National Research Council Research Associate, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC 20001, USA.

PMID: 18927355 DOI: 10.1126/science.1165572

Abstract

Energetic young pulsars and expanding blast waves [supernova remnants (SNRs)] are the most visible remains after massive stars, ending their lives, explode in core-collapse supernovae. The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has unveiled a radio quiet pulsar located near the center of the compact synchrotron nebula inside the supernova remnant CTA 1. The pulsar, discovered through its gamma-ray pulsations, has a period of 316.86 milliseconds and a period derivative of 3.614 x 10(-13) seconds per second. Its characteristic age of 10(4) years is comparable to that estimated for the SNR. We speculate that most unidentified Galactic gamma-ray sources associated with star-forming regions and SNRs are such young pulsars.

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