Discovery of the candidate pulsar wind nebula HESS J1718-385 in very-high-energy gamma-rays

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a new very-high-energy gamma-ray source, HESS J1718-385, associated with a pulsar, featuring a spectral peak similar to the Vela X nebula, advancing understanding of pulsar wind nebulae.

Contribution

The study presents the first systematic search linking energetic pulsars to VHE gamma-ray sources, discovering HESS J1718-385 and analyzing its spectral properties.

Findings

Discovery of HESS J1718-385 as a VHE gamma-ray source

Detection of a spectral maximum in the gamma-ray spectrum

Comparison with the Vela X pulsar wind nebula

Abstract

Motivated by recent detections of pulsar wind nebulae in very-high-energy (VHE) gamma rays, a systematic search for VHE gamma-ray sources associated with energetic pulsars was performed, using data obtained with the H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System) instrument. The search for VHE gamma-ray sources near the pulsar PSR J1718-3825 revealed the new VHE gamma-ray source HESS J1718-385. We report on the results from the HESS data analysis of this source and on possible associations with the pulsar and at other wavelengths. We investigate the energy spectrum of HESS J1718-385 that shows a clear peak. This is only the second time a VHE gamma-ray spectral maximum from a cosmic source was observed, the first being the Vela X pulsar wind nebula.