Abstract
The Crab pulsar, a source of pulsed photons over a wide range of energies, has been observed in the TeV energy range by several groups using the Atmospheric Cerenkov technique1. Time-averaged phasograms have shown signals on only a few occasions. The Durham University group2 detected pulsed TeV γ-rays during two transients lasting 15 min, each in October, 1981, while the Ooty group3,4 has shown that the transient duration could be on time scales of minutes or even seconds. In our recent observations, we identified a 15-min interval on 23 January 1985 during which pulsed TeV γ-rays were detected at a 5.1 sigma level at the same phase as the radio main pulse. Our inference of transient pulsed emission is strengthened by the absence of a signal in a nearby control telescope tilted 8° away from the pulsar and evidence for signal in another telescope 11 km away. We present here an analysis of the data from our 1984–1985 observations.
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Bhat, P., Ramanamurthy, P., Sreekantan, B. et al. A very high energy γ-ray burst from the Crab pulsar. Nature 319, 127–128 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/319127a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/319127a0
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