A Population of Teraelectronvolt Pulsar Wind Nebulae in the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive and sensitive survey of pulsar wind nebulae in the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane data, revealing new insights into their properties and correlations with energetic pulsars.

Contribution

It provides the most complete gamma-ray PWN census to date, including flux upper limits for young pulsars and a detailed analysis of their spectral and morphological characteristics.

Findings

Established correlations between energetic pulsars and TeV PWNe.

Identified new PWN candidates consistent with theoretical models.

Provided flux upper limits for young pulsars in the survey region.

Abstract

The most numerous source class that emerged from the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey are Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe). The 2013 reanalysis of this survey, undertaken after almost 10 years of observations, provides us with the most sensitive and most complete census of gamma-ray PWNe to date. In addition to a uniform analysis of spectral and morphological parameters, for the first time also flux upper limits for energetic young pulsars were extracted from the data. We present a discussion of the correlation between energetic pulsars and TeV objects, and their respective properties. We will put the results in context with the current theoretical understanding of PWNe and evaluate the plausibility of previously non-established PWN candidates.