A Search for TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from Pulsar Tails by VERITAS
Kargaltsev, Oleg; Klingler, Noel; Benbow, W.; Falcone, A.; Feng, Q.; Finley, J. P.; Fortson, L.; Furniss, A.; Hanna, D.; Hervet, O.; Holder, J.; Hughes, G.; Humensky, T. B.; Kaaret, P.; Kertzman, M.; Kieda, D.; Kumar, S.; Lang, M. J.; Maier, G.; Moriarty, P.; Mukherjee, R.; O'Brien, S.; Ong, R. A.; Otte, A. N.; Pohl, M.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Reynolds, P. T.; Richards, G. T.; Roache, E.; Santander, M.; Sembroski, G. H.; Wakely, S. P.; Weinstein, A.; Wilcox, P.; Williams, D. A.; Volkov, Igor; Buckley, J. H.; Nieto, D.; Hassan, T.; Errando, M.; Capasso, M.; Brill, A.; Chromey, A. J.; Gent, A.; Shang, R.; Giuri, C.; Lundy, M.; Nievas-Rosillo, M.; Pfrang, K.; Prado, R. R.; Ribeiro, D.; Ryan, J. L.; Foote, Juniper; Jin, W.; McGrath, C. E.; Farrell, K. A.; Patel, S.
United States, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Spain
Abstract
We report on the search for very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from the regions around three nearby supersonic pulsars (PSR B0355+54, PSR J0357+3205, and PSR J1740+1000) that exhibit long X-ray tails. To date there is no clear detection of TeV emission from any pulsar tail that is prominent in X-ray or radio. We provide upper limits on the TeV flux, and luminosity, and also compare these limits with other pulsar wind nebulae detected in X-rays and the tail emission model predictions. We find that at least one of the three tails is likely to be detected in observations that are a factor of 2-3 more sensitive. The analysis presented here also has implications for deriving the properties of pulsar tails, for those pulsars whose tails could be detected in TeV.