Observations of the Crab pulsar with the MAGIC telescopes

TL;DR

This paper reports on MAGIC telescope observations of the Crab pulsar, revealing that its high-energy emission extends as a power law beyond 5 GeV, challenging existing curvature radiation models.

Contribution

First detailed analysis showing the Crab pulsar's spectrum extends as a power law above 5 GeV, contradicting standard emission models.

Findings

Crab pulsar's spectrum extends as a power law beyond 5 GeV.

Emission above 25 GeV is not dominated by curvature radiation.

Results challenge standard OG and SG emission models.

Abstract

We report on the observations of the Crab pulsar with the MAGIC telesopes. Data were taken both in the mono-mode ($>25$ GeV) and in the stereo-mode ($>50$ GeV). Clear signals from the two peaks were detected with both modes and the phase resolved energy spectra were calculated. By comparing with the measurements done by Fermi-LAT, we found that the energy spectra of the Crab pulsar does not follow a power law with an exponential cutoff, but that it extends as a power law after the break at around 5 GeV. This suggests that the emission above 25 GeV is not dominated by the curvatura radiation, which is inconsistent with the standard prediction of the OG and SG models.