PeV gamma-ray emission from the Crab Nebula

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 γ-rays from this source with energies from 5 × 10−4 to 1.1 petaelectronvolts (PeV), with a spectrum showing gradual steepening over three energy decades. The ultra-high-energy photons imply the presence of a PeV 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 pc, and magnetic field ≈110 μG. The production rate of PeV electrons, 2.5 × 1036 erg s−1, constitutes 0.5% of the pulsar spin-down luminosity, although we cannot exclude a contribution of PeV protons to the production of the highest energy γ-rays.

Generation of photoionized plasmas in the laboratory: Analogues to astrophysical sources

Implementation of a novel experimental approach using a bright source of narrowband x-ray emission has enabled the production of a photoionized argon plasma of relevance to astrophysical modelling codes such as Cloudy. We present results showing that the photoionization parameter ζ = 4πF/ne generated using the VULCAN laser was ≈ 50 erg cm s−1, higher than those obtained previously with more powerful facilities. Comparison of our argon emission-line spectra in the 4.15 - 4.25 Å range at varying initial gas pressures with predictions from the Cloudy code and a simple time-dependent code are also presented. Finally we briefly discuss how this proof-of-principle experiment may be scaled to larger facilities such as ORION to produce the closest laboratory analogue to a photoionized plasma.

Contrast sensitivities in the Gaia Data Release 2

The source detection sensitivity of Gaia is reduced near sources. To characterise this contrast sensitivity is important for understanding the completeness of the Gaia data products, in particular when evaluating source confusion in lower resolution surveys such as photometric monitoring for transits. Here, we statistically evaluate the catalogue source density to determine the Gaia Data Release 2 source detection sensitivity as a function of angular separation and brightness ratio from a bright source. The contrast sensitivity from ∼0.4″ out to 12″ ranges in ΔG = 0–14 mag. We find the derived contrast sensitivity to be robust with respect to target brightness, colour, source density, and Gaia scan coverage.

Planetary Nebulae Detected in the AKARI Far-IR All-Sky Survey Maps

The AKARI Far-IR All-Sky Survey (AFASS) maps produced by the AKARI Infrared Astronomical Satellite enabled us to probe the far-IR sky for objects having surface brightnesses greater than a few to a couple of dozen MJy sr−1. Recently, we have verified that, if AFASS-measured fluxes are properly corrected for using the aperture correction method based on the empirical point-spread-function templates derived directly from the AFASS maps, point-source photometry measured from the AFASS maps reproduces fluxes in the AKARI bright source catalogue (BSC). We have surveyed the far-IR sky in the AFASS for Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) based on the University of Hong Kong/Australian Astronomical Observatory/Strasbourg Observatory Hα Planetary Nebula database (HASHPNDB), preliminarily yielding far-IR fluxes for roughly 1000 Galactic PNe including a few hundreds of PNe not listed in the AKARI/BSC.

VERA Single Dish Observations

We will report the activities of the VERA single-dish observations. We are carrying out single-dish observations with two purposes. The first purpose is the monitoring of known H2O maser sources. At present, we are carrying out monitoring observations for 312 H2O maser sources at intervals of two months. The second purpose is the search for new water maser sources. We selected 901 target sources from the AKARI FIS Bright Source Catalogue. We found 61 new H2O maser sources.