PULSED GAMMA RAYS FROM THE MILLISECOND PULSAR J0030+0451 WITH THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE

Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Atwood, W. B.; Axelsson, M.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Battelino, M.; Baughman, B. M.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Berenji, B.; Bloom, E. D.; Bonamente, E.; Borgland, A. W.; Bregeon, J.; Brez, A.; Brigida, M.; Bruel, P.; Burnett, T. H.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Caraveo, P. A.; Casandjian, J. M.; Cecchi, C.; Charles, E.; Chekhtman, A.; Cheung, C. C.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cognard, I.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Cominsky, L. R.; Conrad, J.; Cutini, S.; Dermer, C. D.; De Angelis, A.; De Palma, F; Digel, S. W.; Dormody, M.; Do Couto E Silva, E.; Drell, P. S.; Dubois, R.; Dumora, D.; Farnier, C.; Favuzzi, C.; Focke, W. B.; Frailis, M.; Fukazawa, Y.; Funk, S.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gasparrini, D.; Gehrels, N.; Germani, S.; Giebels, B.; Giglietto, N.; Giordano, F.; Glanzman, T.; Godfrey, G.; Grenier, I. A.; Grondin, M. -H.; Grove, J. E.; Guillemot, L.; Guiriec, S.; Hanabata, Y.; Harding, A. K.; Hayashida, M.; Hays, E.; Hughes, R. E.; Johannesson, G.; Johnson, A. S.; Johnson, R. P.; Johnson, T. J.; Johnson, W. N.; Kamae, T.; Katagiri, H.; Kataoka, J.; Kawai, N.; Kerr, M.; Knoedlseder, J.; Kocian, M. L.; Komin, N.; Kuehn, F.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Latronico, L.; Lee, S. -H.; Lemoine-Goumard, M.; Longo, F.; Loparco, F.; Lott, B.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Madejski, G. M.; Makeev, A.; Marelli, M.; Mazziotta, M. N.; Mcconville, W.; Mcenery, J. E.; Meurer, C.; Michelson, P. F.; Mitthumsiri, W.; Mizuno, T.; Moiseev, A. A.; Monte, C.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Nolan, P. L.; Nuss, E.; Ohsugi, T.; Omodei, N.; Orlando, E.; Ormes, J. F.; Pancrazi, B.; Paneque, D.; Panetta, J. H.; Parent, D.; Pepe, M.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Piron, F.; Porter, T. A.; Raino, S.; Rando, R.; Razzano, M.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Reposeur, T.; Ritz, S.; Rochester, L. S.; Rodriguez, A. Y.; Romani, R. W.; Ryde, F.; Sadrozinski, H. F. -W.; Sanchez, D.; Sander, A.; Saz, Parkinson P. M.; Sgro, C.; Siskind, E. J.; Smith, D. A.; Smith, P. D.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, P.; Starck, J. -L.; Strickman, M. S.; Suson, D. J.; Tajima, H.; Takahashi, H.; Tanaka, T.; Thayer, J. B.; Thayer, J. G.; Theureau, G.; Thompson, D. J.; Tibaldo, L.; Torres, D. F.; Tosti, G.; Tramacere, A.; Uchiyama, Y.; Usher, T. L.; Van Etten, A.; Vilchez, N.; Vitale, V.; Waite, A. P.; Watters, K.; Webb, N.; Wood, K. S.; Ylinen, T.; Ziegler, M.

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/699/2/1171

We report the discovery of gamma-ray pulsations from the nearby isolated millisecond pulsar (MSP) PSR J0030+0451 with the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (formerly GLAST). This discovery makes PSR J0030+0451 the second MSP to be detected in gamma rays after PSR J0218+4232, observed by the EGRET instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. The spin-down power (E) over dot = 3.5 x 10(33) erg s(-1) is an order of magnitude lower than the empirical lower bound of previously known gamma-ray pulsars. The emission profile is characterized by two narrow peaks, 0.07 +/- 0.01 and 0.08 +/- 0.02 wide, respectively, separated by 0.44 +/- 0.02 in phase. The first gamma-ray peak falls 0.15 +/- 0.01 after the main radio peak. The pulse shape is similar to that of the "normal" gamma-ray pulsars. An exponentially cutoff power-law fit of the emission spectrum leads to an integral photon flux above 100 MeV of (6.76 +/- 1.05 +/- 1.35) x 10(-8) cm(-2) s(-1) with cutoff energy (1.7 +/- 0.4 +/- 0.5) GeV. Based on its parallax distance of (300 +/- 90) pc, we obtain a gamma-ray efficiency L(gamma)/E similar or equal to 15% for the conversion of spin-down energy rate into gamma-ray radiation, assuming isotropic emission.