An international group of astronomers revealed a source of mysterious high-energy gamma radiation, which turned out to be a Plearon – a nebula, surrounding the pulsar. The opening is reported in the article published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters magazine. Briefly about the study describes the press release on Phys.org.
Researchers observed the accumulation of powerful pulsars using the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Experiment). It turned out that gamma radiation is created by the lamps, feeding the energy from the wind of the pulsar.
It was believed that the radiation of gamma rays of ultra-high energy (more than 56 teraelectronevolt, TEV) is associated with sources of neutrino and gamma rays, called peguants (pevatrons), which can be outbreaks of supernova, star-forming area or supermassive black holes. However, in 2020, the Hawc collaboration published a list of nine gamma radiation sources emitting more than 56 TEVs that were located next to the pulsars.
Hawc registers particles in the composition of atmospheric shower – the flow generated by the interaction of cosmic rays with the upper layers of the atmosphere of the Earth. Since the charged particles are moved at a speed above the speed of light in this environment, Chenkovsky radiation occurs, which detectors detect.