Gamma-ray follow-up studies on Eta Carinae

Abstract

Observations of high energy gamma rays recently revealed a persistent source in spatial coincidence with the binary system Eta Carinae. Since modulation of the observed gamma-ray flux on orbital time scales has not been reported so far, an unambiguous identification was hitherto not possible. Particularly the observations made by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) posed additional questions regarding the actual emission scenario owing to the existence of two energetically distinct components in the gamma-ray spectrum of this source, best described by an exponentially cutoff power-law function (CPL) at energies below 10 GeV and a power-law (PL) component dominant at higher energies. The increased exposure in conjunction with the improved instrumental response functions of the LAT now allow us to perform a more detailed investigation of location, spectral shape, and flux time history of the observed gamma-ray emission. For the first time, we are able to report a weak but regular flux decrease over time. This can be understood and interpreted in a colliding-wind binary scenario for orbital modulation of the gamma-ray emission. We find the spectral shape of the gamma-ray signal in agreement with a single emitting particle population in combination with significant absorption by gamma-gamma pair production. Studying the correlation of the flux decrease with the orbital separation of the binary components allows us to predict the behaviour up to the next periastron passage in 2014.

11 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Detection of Gamma-ray Emission from the Eta-Carinae Region
• Chemical evolution of galaxies. I. A composition-dependent SPH model for chemical evolution and cooling
• Hard X-ray emission from Eta Carinae
• Particle acceleration in the expanding blast wave of Eta Carina's Great Eruption of 1843

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• On the origin of γ-ray emission in η Carina
• Suzaku Monitoring of Hard X-ray Emission from Eta Carinae over a Single Binary Orbital Cycle
• The 2.35 year itch of Cygnus OB2#9 III. X-ray and radio emission analysis based on three dimensional hydrodynamical modelling
• Detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from Eta Carinae during its 2020 periastron passage
• Probing cosmic ray escape from η Carinae
• Combined Magnetohydrodynamic- Monte Carlo Simulations of Proton Acceleration in Colliding Wind Binaries