Fermi LAT Detection of the Recent Glitch in the Vela Pulsar (PSR J0835-4510)
ATel #12481; M. Kerr (Naval Research Laboratory); on behalf of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration
on 7 Feb 2019; 23:49 UT
Credential Certification: Teddy Cheung (Teddy.Cheung@nrl.navy.mil)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, Neutron Star, Pulsar
Referred to by ATel #: 12482
Following the discovery of a glitch of the Vela pulsar using radio observations (ATel# 12466), we report the detection and characterization of the glitch in data taken with the Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The glitch occurred while Vela was in the LAT field-of-view, and preliminary unbinned analysis of the 0.1-30 GeV photon data indicates the glitch epoch at the solar system barycenter is MJD 58515.5929(5), or Feb 1 2019 at 14:13:46 UTC, and that the amplitude of the spin frequency jump was 2.7867(6)x10^-5 Hz, similar to previously observed glitches. There is no strong evidence for changes in the pulse profile or additional transient features in the pulse timing, but we caution that unresolved transients can cause the glitch epoch uncertainty to be underestimated.
Because Fermi normally operates in an all-sky scanning mode, regular gamma-ray monitoring of this source will continue. For this source the Fermi LAT contact person is Matthew Kerr (matthew.kerr@nrl.navy.mil).
The Fermi LAT is a pair conversion telescope designed to cover the energy band from 20 MeV to greater than 300 GeV. It is the product of an international collaboration between NASA and DOE in the U.S. and many scientific institutions across France, Italy, Japan and Sweden.
