On the nature of the unidentified EGRET sources: Are they Geminga-like pulsars?

R. Mukherjee; D. L. Bertsch; B. L. Dingus; G. Kanbach; D. A. Kniffen; P. Sreekumar; D. J. Thompson

doi:10.1086/187790

On the nature of the unidentified EGRET sources: Are they Geminga-like pulsars?

R. Mukherjee^*, D. L. Bertsch, B. L. Dingus, G. Kanbach, D. A. Kniffen, P. Sreekumar, D. J. Thompson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences, Manipal

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Observations with the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory show more than 30 unidentified gamma-ray sources concentrated along the Galactic plane. Based on their spatial distribution, the typical distances of the sources are found to be between 1.2 and 6 kpc. Luminosity estimates made using the estimated distances of the sources and their observed gamma-ray fluxes lie in the range (0.7-16.7) × 10³⁵ ergs s^-1. These values, on the average, appear to be higher than the luminosities of the gamma-ray pulsars observed by EGRET. The luminosity estimates indicate that the lowlatitude unidentified EGRET sources cannot be explained as a group of older, low-luminosity pulsars like Geminga, although the high-latitude sources may be candidates.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	L61-L64
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	441
Issue number	2 PART 2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/187790
Publication status	Published - 10-03-1995

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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title = "On the nature of the unidentified EGRET sources: Are they Geminga-like pulsars?",

abstract = "Observations with the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory show more than 30 unidentified gamma-ray sources concentrated along the Galactic plane. Based on their spatial distribution, the typical distances of the sources are found to be between 1.2 and 6 kpc. Luminosity estimates made using the estimated distances of the sources and their observed gamma-ray fluxes lie in the range (0.7-16.7) × 1035 ergs s-1. These values, on the average, appear to be higher than the luminosities of the gamma-ray pulsars observed by EGRET. The luminosity estimates indicate that the lowlatitude unidentified EGRET sources cannot be explained as a group of older, low-luminosity pulsars like Geminga, although the high-latitude sources may be candidates.",

author = "R. Mukherjee and Bertsch, \{D. L.\} and Dingus, \{B. L.\} and G. Kanbach and Kniffen, \{D. A.\} and P. Sreekumar and Thompson, \{D. J.\}",

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T2 - Are they Geminga-like pulsars?

AU - Mukherjee, R.

AU - Bertsch, D. L.

AU - Dingus, B. L.

AU - Kanbach, G.

AU - Kniffen, D. A.

AU - Sreekumar, P.

AU - Thompson, D. J.

PY - 1995/3/10

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N2 - Observations with the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory show more than 30 unidentified gamma-ray sources concentrated along the Galactic plane. Based on their spatial distribution, the typical distances of the sources are found to be between 1.2 and 6 kpc. Luminosity estimates made using the estimated distances of the sources and their observed gamma-ray fluxes lie in the range (0.7-16.7) × 1035 ergs s-1. These values, on the average, appear to be higher than the luminosities of the gamma-ray pulsars observed by EGRET. The luminosity estimates indicate that the lowlatitude unidentified EGRET sources cannot be explained as a group of older, low-luminosity pulsars like Geminga, although the high-latitude sources may be candidates.

AB - Observations with the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory show more than 30 unidentified gamma-ray sources concentrated along the Galactic plane. Based on their spatial distribution, the typical distances of the sources are found to be between 1.2 and 6 kpc. Luminosity estimates made using the estimated distances of the sources and their observed gamma-ray fluxes lie in the range (0.7-16.7) × 1035 ergs s-1. These values, on the average, appear to be higher than the luminosities of the gamma-ray pulsars observed by EGRET. The luminosity estimates indicate that the lowlatitude unidentified EGRET sources cannot be explained as a group of older, low-luminosity pulsars like Geminga, although the high-latitude sources may be candidates.

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On the nature of the unidentified EGRET sources: Are they Geminga-like pulsars?

Abstract

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