Spectral Analysis of the Crab Pulsar and Nebula with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

TL;DR

This paper analyzes gamma-ray data from the Fermi LAT to study the Crab Pulsar and Nebula, confirming previous measurements and providing detailed spectral information in the gamma-ray band.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed spectral analysis of the Crab Pulsar and Nebula using Fermi LAT data, confirming prior observations and extending gamma-ray measurements.

Findings

Pulsed gamma-ray fluxes agree with EGRET data

Nebula gamma-ray spectra are consistent with Earth-based observations

Spectral analysis enhances understanding of Crab's gamma-ray emission

Abstract

The Crab Pulsar is a relatively young neutron star. The pulsar is the central star in the Crab Nebula, a remnant of the supernova SN 1054, which was observed on Earth in the year 1054. The Crab Pulsar has been extensively observed in the gamma-ray energy band by the Large Area Telescope (LAT), the main instrument onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, during its first months of data taking. The LAT data have been used to reconstruct the fluxes and the energy spectra of the pulsed gamma-ray component and of the gamma-rays from the nebula. The results on the pulsed component are in good agreement with the previous measurement from EGRET, while the results on the nebula are consistent with the observations from Earth based telescopes.