Astrophysics
[Submitted on 11 Jun 2007 (v1), last revised 27 Jun 2007 (this version, v2)]
Title:Very High Energy Gamma-ray Radiation from the Stellar-mass Black Hole Cygnus X-1
View PDFAbstract: We report on the results from the observations in very high energy band (VHE, E_gamma > 100 GeV) of the black hole X-ray binary (BHXB) Cygnus X-1. The observations were performed with the MAGIC telescope, for a total of 40 hours during 26 nights, spanning the period between June and November 2006. Searches for steady gamma-ray signals yielded no positive result and upper limits to the integral flux ranging between 1 and 2% of the Crab nebula flux, depending on the energy, have been established. We also analyzed each observation night independently, obtaining evidence of gamma-ray signals at the 4.0 standard deviations (sigma) significance level (3.2 sigma after trial correction) for 154 minutes effective on-time (EOT) on September 24 between 20h58 and 23h41 UTC, coinciding with an X-ray flare seen by RXTE, Swift and INTEGRAL. A search for faster-varying signals within a night resulted in an excess with a significance of 4.9 sigma (4.1 sigma after trial correction) for 79 minutes EOT between 22h17 and 23h41 UTC. The measured excess is compatible with a point-like source at the position of Cygnus X-1, and excludes the nearby radio nebula powered by its relativistic jet. The differential energy spectrum is well fitted by an unbroken power-law described by dN/(dA dt dE) = (2.3+- 0.6) x 10^{-12} (E/1 TeV)^{-3.2 +- 0.6}. This is the first experimental evidence of VHE emission from a stellar-mass black hole, and therefore from a confirmed accreting X-ray binary.
Submission history
From: Javier Rico [view email][v1] Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:19:54 UTC (145 KB)
[v2] Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:33:20 UTC (155 KB)
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