Peta-electron volt gamma-ray emission from the Crab Nebula.
null nullZhen CaoF A AharonianQ Annull AxikeguL X BaiY X BaiY W BaoDenis BastieriX J BiY J BiH CaiJ T CaiZhe CaoJ ChangJ F ChangB M ChenE S ChenJ ChenLiang ChenLiang ChenLong ChenM J ChenM L ChenQ H ChenS H ChenS Z ChenT L ChenX L ChenY ChenN ChengY D ChengS W CuiX H CuiY D CuiB D'Ettorre PiazzoliB Z DaiH L DaiZ G Dainull DanzengluobuD Della VolpeX J DongK K DuanJ H FanYi-Zhong FanZ X FanJ FangK FangC F FengL FengS H FengY L FengB GaoC D GaoL Q GaoQ GaoW GaoM M GeL S GengG H GongQ B GouM H GuF L GuoJ G GuoX L GuoY Q GuoY Y GuoY A HanH H HeH N HeJ C HeS L HeX B HeY HeM HellerY K HorC HouX HouH B HuS HuS C HuX J HuD H HuangQ L HuangW H HuangX T HuangX Y HuangZ C HuangF JiX L JiH Y JiaK JiangZ J JiangC JinT KeD KuleshovK LevochkinB B LiCheng LiCong LiF LiH B LiH C LiH Y LiJian LiJie LiK LiW L LiX R LiXin LiXin LiY LiY Z LiZhe LiZhuo LiE W LiangY F LiangS J LinB LiuC LiuD LiuH LiuH D LiuJ LiuJ L LiuJ S LiuJ Y LiuM Y LiuR Y LiuS M LiuW LiuY LiuY N LiuZ X LiuW J LongR LuH K LvBo-Qiang MaL L MaX H MaJ R MaoA MasoodZ MinW MitthumsiriT MontaruliY C NanB Y PangP PattarakijwanichZ Y PeiM Y QiY Q QiB Q QiaoJ J QinD RuffoloV RulevA SáizL ShaoO ShchegolevX D ShengJ Y ShiH C SongYu V StenkinV StepanovY SuQ N SunX N SunZ B SunP H T TamZ J TangW W TianB D WangC WangH WangH G WangJ C WangJieshuang WangL P WangL Y WangR N WangWei WangWei WangX G WangX J WangX Y WangY WangY D WangY J WangY P WangZ H WangZ X WangZhen WangZheng WangD M WeiJ J WeiY J WeiT WenC Y WuH R WuS WuW X WuXue-Feng WuS Q XiJ XiaJ J XiaG M XiangD X XiaoG XiaoH B XiaoG G XinY L XinY XingD L XuR X XuL XueD H YanJ Z YanC W YangF F YangJ Y YangL L YangM J YangR Z YangS B YangY H YaoZ G YaoY M YeL Q YinN YinX H YouZ Y YouY H YuQiang YuanH D ZengT X ZengW ZengZ K ZengM ZhaX X ZhaiBin-Bin ZhangH M ZhangH Y ZhangJ L ZhangJ W ZhangL X ZhangLi ZhangLu ZhangP F ZhangP P ZhangR ZhangS R ZhangS S ZhangX ZhangX P ZhangY F ZhangY L ZhangYong ZhangYong ZhangB ZhaoJ ZhaoL ZhaoL Z ZhaoS P ZhaoF ZhengY ZhengB ZhouH ZhouJ N ZhouP ZhouR ZhouX X ZhouC G ZhuF R ZhuH ZhuK J ZhuX ZuoPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2021)
The Crab Nebula is a bright source of gamma rays powered by the Crab Pulsar's rotational energy through the formation and termination of a relativistic electron-positron wind. We report the detection of gamma rays from this source with energies from 5 × 10-4 to 1.1 peta-electron volts with a spectrum showing gradual steepening over three energy decades. The ultrahigh-energy photons imply the presence of a peta-electron volt electron accelerator (a pevatron) in the nebula, with an acceleration rate exceeding 15% of the theoretical limit. We constrain the pevatron's size between 0.025 and 0.1 parsecs and the magnetic field to ≈110 microgauss. The production rate of peta-electron volt electrons, 2.5 × 1036 ergs per second, constitutes 0.5% of the pulsar spin-down luminosity, although we cannot exclude a contribution of peta-electron volt protons to the production of the highest-energy gamma rays.