Pulsar model of the high energy phenomenology of LS 5039

TL;DR

This paper models the high energy emissions of LS 5039 assuming it is a pulsar-star system, successfully explaining observed flux and spectral features across various timescales using detailed physical processes.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive theoretical model incorporating system geometry, inverse Compton scattering, gamma-gamma absorption, and cascading to explain LS 5039's high energy phenomenology.

Findings

Model accurately reproduces observed flux and spectrum.

Explains variability across different timescales.

Provides insights into pulsar-star high energy interactions.

Abstract

Under the assumption that LS 5039 is a system composed by a pulsar rotating around an O6.5V star in a $\sim 3.9$ day orbit, we present the results of a theoretical modeling of the high energy phenomenology observed by the High Energy Stereoscopy Array (H.E.S.S.). This model (including detailed account of the system geometry, Klein-Nishina inverse Compton, $\gamma$-$\gamma$ absorption, and cascading) is able to describe well the rich observed phenomenology found in the system at all timescales, both flux and spectrum-wise.