Discovery of γ-ray pulsation and X-ray emission from the black widow pulsar PSR J2051-0827

Abstract

We report the discovery of pulsed γ-ray emission and X-ray emission from the black widow millisecond pulsar PSR J2051-0827 by using the data from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer array (ACIS-S) on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Using 3 years of LAT data, PSR J2051-0827 is clearly detected in γ-ray with a signicance of \sim 8σ in the 0.2 - 20 GeV band. The 200 MeV - 20 GeV γ-ray spectrum of PSR J2051-0827 can be modeled by a simple power- law with a photon index of 2.46 \pm 0.15. Significant (\sim 5σ) γ-ray pulsations at the radio period were detected. PSR J2051-0827 was also detected in soft (0.3-7 keV) X-ray with Chandra. By comparing the observed γ-rays and X-rays with theoretical models, we suggest that the γ-ray emission is from the outer gap while the X-rays can be from intra-binary shock and pulsar magnetospheric synchrotron emissions.

10 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJ on Jan 28, 2012