A Systematic Search for MeV–GeV Pulsar Wind Nebulae without Gamma-Ray Detected Pulsars

Acharyya A, Adelfio A, Ajello M, Baldini L, Ballet J, Bartolini C, Becerra Gonzalez J, Bellazzini R, Bissaldi E, Bonino R, Bruel P, Cameron RA, Caraveo PA, Casaburo F, Casini F, Castro D, Cavazzuti E, Ciprini S, Cozzolongo G, Cristarella Orestano P, Cuna F, Cutini S, D’Ammando F, Depalo D, Di Lalla N, Dinesh A, Di Venere L, Domínguez A, Eagle J, Fiori A, Fukazawa Y, Funk S, Fusco P, Gargano F, Gasbarra C, Gasparrini D, Germani S, Giacchino F, Giglietto N, Giliberti M, Giordano F, Giroletti M, Green D, Grenier IA, Grondin MH, Guiriec S, Gupta R, Harding AK, Hashizume M, Hays E, Hewitt JW, Horan D, Hou X, Kayanoki T, Kuss M, Laviron A, Lemoine-Goumard M, Liguori A, Li J, Liodakis I, Loizzo P, Longo F, Loparco F, Lorusso L, Lovellette MN, Lubrano P, Maldera S, Malyshev D, Martí-Devesa G, Mazziotta MN, Mereu I, Michelson PF, Mirabal N, Mizuno T, Monti-Guarnieri P, Monzani ME, Morselli A, Moskalenko IV, Omodei N, Orlando E, Paneque D, Panzarini G, Persic M, Pesce-Rollins M, Pillera R, Porter TA, Principe G, Rainò S, Rando R, Razzano M, Reimer A, Reimer O, Sánchez-Conde M, Saz Parkinson PM, Serini D, Sgrò C, Siskind EJ, Spandre G, Spinelli P, Strong AW, Tajima H, Thayer JB, Tibaldo L, Torres DF, Valverde J, Wood K, Zaharijas G, Zhang W (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Book Volume: 989

Article Number: 110

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ade8f0

Abstract

An increasing number of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are being identified in the TeV band by ground-based Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes such that they constitute the dominant source class of Galactic TeV emitters. However, MeV–GeV PWN counterparts are still largely lacking. To date, only a dozen PWNe are identified by the Fermi–Large Area Telescope (LAT) in the MeV–GeV band. Most PWNe are located along the Galactic plane embedded within the prominent, diffuse Galactic γ-ray emission, which makes these sources difficult to disentangle from the bright diffuse background. We present a systematic search for γ-ray counterparts to known PWNe in the 300 MeV–2 TeV energy band using the Fermi–LAT. We target the locations of previously identified PWNe that lack detected Fermi–LAT pulsars to minimize associated pulsar contamination. The sample includes six previously identified Fermi PWNe and eight Fermi–LAT sources associated with PWNe. We report the analysis of 58 regions of interest and classify Fermi–LAT detected sources as either a likely PWN or a candidate PWN counterpart based on their morphological and spectral characteristics across the broadband spectrum. There are nine unidentified Fermi–LAT sources that we consider as likely PWN counterparts, which, if confirmed to be PWNe, would greatly increase the PWN population detected by the Fermi–LAT from 12 to 21. The remaining Fermi–LAT detected sources are considered weaker PWN candidates. A second approach in the systematic search for γ-ray emitting PWNe will involve studying the off-pulse phases of Fermi–LAT detected pulsars for the presence of an obscured PWN and will be reported in a subsequent paper.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

University of Southern Denmark / Syddansk Universitet Denmark (DK) National Institute for Nuclear Physics / Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Italy (IT) Clemson University United States (USA) (US) University of Pisa / Università di Pisa (UniPi) Italy (IT) Université Paris-Saclay France (FR) Universidad de La Laguna Spain (ES) Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut, MPP) / Max Planck Institute for Physics Germany (DE) Université de Bordeaux France (FR) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) United States (USA) (US) Los Alamos National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) Hiroshima University / 広島大学 Japan (JP) University of North Florida (UNF) United States (USA) (US) Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet (LLR) France (FR) Yunnan Observatories China (CN) Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck / University of Innsbruck Austria (AT) Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) Spain (ES) Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics United States (USA) (US) NYCB Real-Time Computing, Inc. United States (USA) (US) Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) / Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics Germany (DE) Nagoya University / 名古屋大学 Japan (JP) Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) United States (USA) (US) Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC) Spain (ES) Università degli Studi di Trieste Italy (IT) Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP) France (FR) Praxis, Inc. United States (USA) (US) University of Nova Gorica / Univerza v Novi Gorici Slovenia (SI) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) Università degli Studi di Perugia Italy (IT) Smithsonian Institution United States (USA) (US) Italian Space Agency / Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) Italy (IT) Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Spain (ES) University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) China (CN) The Aerospace Corporation United States (USA) (US) University of Padua / Universita degli Studi di Padova Italy (IT)

How to cite

APA:

Acharyya, A., Adelfio, A., Ajello, M., Baldini, L., Ballet, J., Bartolini, C.,... Zhang, W. (2025). A Systematic Search for MeV–GeV Pulsar Wind Nebulae without Gamma-Ray Detected Pulsars. Astrophysical Journal, 989(1). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ade8f0

MLA:

Acharyya, A., et al. "A Systematic Search for MeV–GeV Pulsar Wind Nebulae without Gamma-Ray Detected Pulsars." Astrophysical Journal 989.1 (2025).

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