Detection of the crab pulsar with MAGIC

Abstract

The MAGIC telescope has detected for the first time pulsed gamma-rays from the Crab pulsar in the VHE domain. The observations were performed with a newly developed trigger system that allows us to lower the energy threshold of the telescope from 55 GeV to 25 GeV. We present a comparison of light curves measured by our experiment with the one measured by space detectors. A strong energy dependent decrease of the first peak with respect to the second peak P1/P2 could be observed. Finally, fitting our measured data and previous measurements from EGRET we determine a turnover of the energy spectrum at 17.7 +- 2.8 (stat.) +- 5.0 (syst.) GeV, assuming an exponential cutoff. This rules out the scenario in which the gamma rays are produced in vicinity of the polar caps of the neutron star.

Contribution to the 31st ICRC, Lodz, Poland, July 2009