Gamma-ray flares from pulsar wind nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud

TL;DR

This study detects gamma-ray flares from pulsar wind nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud, revealing variability not observed in the Crab nebula, with flux increases up to tenfold in certain energy bands.

Contribution

First detection of gamma-ray flares from LMC pulsar wind nebulae, expanding understanding of PWN variability beyond the Crab nebula.

Findings

Evidence of gamma-ray flaring activity in LMC PWNe.

Flux increased by a factor of 5-10 during flares.

Flares observed in multiple energy bands, especially at 1-10 GeV.

Abstract

High-energy radiation of young pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) is known to be variable. This is most prominently exemplified by the Crab nebula which can undergo both rapid brightenings and dimmings. Two pulsars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, PSR J0540-6919 and PSR J0537-6910 are evolutionally very close to Crab, so one may expect the same kind of variability from the PWNe around them as from the Crab nebula. In this work we search for variability in these PWNe in gamma rays using the data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope in the range 100 MeV-10 GeV collected from August 2008 to December 2021. We construct light curves of these sources in the three bands, 100-300 MeV, 300-1000 MeV and 1-10 GeV with the one week time resolution. We find evidence of flaring activity in all the bands, in contrast with Crab, where no flares at $E>1$ GeV were observed. Analysis of the flaring episode in the 100-300 and 300-1000 MeV bands indicates that the flux of one of the PWNe could grew by a factor of $\approx 5-10$. We are not confident about which of the two PWNe flared because of their proximity in the sky. However, in the 1-10 GeV band where the angular resolution of the LAT is better, we find several episodes of enhanced brightness in both the PWNe. We check possible contaminants which could be responsible for the observed variability, but find their contribution not to be relevant.