Modulated High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from the Microquasar Cygnus X-3

Creators: Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Axelsson, M.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Baughman, B. M.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Berenji, B.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.; Bonamente, E.; Borgland, A. W.; Brez, A.; Brigida, M.; Bruel, P.; Burnett, T. H.; Buson, S.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Caraveo, P. A.; Casandjian, J. M.; Cecchi, C.; Çelik, Ö.; Chaty, S.; Cheung, C. C.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Cominsky, L. R.; Conrad, J.; Corbel, S.; Corbet, R.; Dermer, C. D.; de Palma, F.; Digel, S. W.; do Couto e Silva, E.; Drell, P. S.; Dubois, R.; Dubus, G.; Dumora, D.; Farnier, C.; Favuzzi, C.; Fegan, S. J.; Focke, W. B.; Fortin, P.; Frailis, M.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gehrels, N.; Germani, S.; Giavitto, G.; Giebels, B.; Giglietto, N.; Giordano, F.; Glanzman, T.; Godfrey, G.; Grenier, I. A.; Grondin, M. -H.; Grove, J. E.; Guillemot, L.; Guiriec, S.; Hanabata, Y.; Harding, A. K.; Hayashida, M.; Hays, E.; Hill, A. B.; Hjalmarsdotter, L.; Horan, D.; Hughes, R. E.; Jackson, M. S.; Jóhannesson, G.; Johnson, A. S.; Johnson, T. J.; Johnson, W. N.; Kamae, T.; Katagiri, H.; Kawai, N.; Kerr, M.; Knödlseder, J.; Kocian, M. L.; Koerding, E.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Latronico, L.; Lemoine-Goumard, M.; Longo, F.; Loparco, F.; Lott, B.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Madejski, G. M.; Makeev, A.; Marchand, L.; Marelli, M.; Max-Moerbeck, W.; Mazziotta, M. N.; McColl, N.; McEnery, J. E.; Meurer, C.; Michelson, P. F.; Migliari, S.; Mitthumsiri, W.; Mizuno, T.; Monte, C.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Nolan, P. L.; Norris, J. P.; Nuss, E.; Ohsugi, T.; Omodei, N.; Ong, R. A.; Ormes, J. F.; Paneque, D.; Parent, D.; Pelassa, V.; Pepe, M.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Piron, F.; Pooley, G.; Porter, T. A.; Pottschmidt, K.; Rainò, S.; Rando, R.; Ray, P. S.; Razzano, M.; Rea, N.; Readhead, A.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Richards, J. L.; Rochester, L. S.; Rodriguez, J.; Rodriguez, A. Y.; Romani, R. W.; Ryde, F.; Sadrozinski, H. F.-W.; Sander, A.; Saz Parkinson, P. M.; Sgrò, C.; Siskind, E. J.; Smith, D. A.; Smith, P. D.; Spinelli, P.; Starck, J.-L.; Stevenson, M.; Strickman, M. S.; Suson, D. J.; Takahashi, H.; Tanaka, T.; Thayer, J. B.; Thompson, D. J.; Tibaldo, L.; Tomsick, J. A.; Torres, D. F.; Tosti, G.; Tramacere, A.; Uchiyama, Y.; Usher, T. L.; Vasileiou, V.; Vilchez, N.; Vitale, V.; Waite, A. P.; Wang, P.; Wilms, J.; Winer, B. L.; Wood, K. S.; Ylinen, T.; Ziegler, M.; Fermi LAT Collaboration

Abstract

Microquasars are accreting black holes or neutron stars in binary systems with associated relativistic jets. Despite their frequent outburst activity, they have never been unambiguously detected emitting high-energy gamma rays. The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has detected a variable high-energy source coinciding with the position of the x-ray binary and microquasar Cygnus X-3. Its identification with Cygnus X-3 is secured by the detection of its orbital period in gamma rays, as well as the correlation of the LAT flux with radio emission from the relativistic jets of Cygnus X-3. The gamma-ray emission probably originates from within the binary system, opening new areas in which to study the formation of relativistic jets.

Additional Information

© 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 18 September 2009; accepted 5 November 2009. Published online 26 November 2009. The Fermi LAT Collaboration acknowledges support from a number of agencies and institutes for both development and the operation of the LAT as well as scientific data analysis. These include NASA and the Department of Energy in the United States; CEA/Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers and l'Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules/CNRS in France; the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Italy; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, National Laboratory for High Energy Physics (KEK), and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Japan; and the K. A. Wallenberg Foundation, Swedish Research Council and National Space Board in Sweden. Additional support from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Italy and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales in France for science analysis during the operations phase is also gratefully acknowledged. J.C. is a Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Research Fellow, funded by a grant from the K. A. Wallenberg Foundation. G.D. and A.B.H. are funded by contract ERC-StG-200911 from the European Community.

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