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1. Multiwavelength Observation of a Candidate Pulsar Halo LHAASO J0621+3755 and the First X-Ray Detection of PSR J0622+3749

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc92b  

   Adams, C B; Archer, A; Bangale, P; Bartkoske, J T; Benbow, W; Buckley, J H; Chen, Y; Christiansen, J L; Chromey, A J; Duerr, A; et al (May 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Pulsar halos are regions around middle-aged pulsars extending out to tens of parsecs. The large extent of the halos and well-defined central cosmic-ray accelerators make this new class of Galactic sources an ideal laboratory for studying cosmic-ray transport. LHAASO J0621+3755 is a candidate pulsar halo associated with the middle-aged gamma-ray pulsar PSR J0622+3749. We observed LHAASO J0621+3755 with VERITAS and XMM-Newton in the TeV and X-ray bands, respectively. For this work, we developed a novel background estimation technique for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope observations of such extended sources. No halo emission was detected with VERITAS (0.3–10 TeV) or XMM-Newton (2–7 keV) within 1^∘and $10^{\prime }$ around PSR J0622+3749, respectively. Combined with the LHAASO Kilometer Square Array (KM2A) and Fermi-LAT data, VERITAS flux upper limits establish a spectral break at  ∼1–10 TeV, a unique feature compared with Geminga, the most studied pulsar halo. We model the gamma-ray spectrum and LHAASO-KM2A surface brightness as inverse Compton emission and find suppressed diffusion around the pulsar, similar to Geminga. A smaller diffusion suppression zone and harder electron injection spectrum than Geminga are necessary to reproduce the spectral cutoff. A magnetic field ≤1μG is required by our XMM-Newton observation and synchrotron spectral modeling, consistent with Geminga. Our findings support slower diffusion and lower magnetic field around pulsar halos than the Galactic averages, hinting at magnetohydrodynamic turbulence around pulsars. Additionally, we report the detection of an X-ray point source spatially coincident with PSR J0622+3749, whose periodicity is consistent with the gamma-ray spin period of 333.2 ms. The soft spectrum of this source suggests a thermal origin. 

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2. Constraints on the X-Ray and Very-high-energy Gamma-Ray Flux from Supernova Remnant W44

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc07d  

   Archer, A; Bangale, P; Bartkoske, J T; Benbow, W; Buckley, J H; Chen, Y; Christiansen, J L; Chromey, A J; Duerr, A; Errando, M; et al (April 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Observations of GeV gamma-ray emission from the well-studied mixed-morphology supernova remnant (SNR) W44 by Fermi-Large Area Telescope and AGILE imply that it is a site of significant cosmic-ray acceleration. The spectral energy distribution (SED) derived from the GeV data suggests that the gamma-ray emission likely originates from the decay of neutral pions generated by cosmic-ray interactions. It is essential to measure the SED of W44 in the X-ray and very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray bands to verify the hadronic origin of the emission and to gauge the potential contributions from leptonic emission. We report an upper limit of the nonthermal X-ray flux from W44 of 5  × 10⁻¹³erg cm⁻²s⁻¹in the 0.5–8.0 keV band based on  ∼300 ks of XMM-Newton observations. The X-ray upper limit is consistent with previously estimated hadronic models, but in tension with the leptonic models. We estimate the VHE flux upper limit of  ∼1.2  × 10⁻¹²erg s⁻¹cm⁻²in the 0.5–5.0 TeV range from W44 using data from the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System. Our nondetection of W44 at VHE wavelengths is in agreement with observations from other imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes and is perhaps consistent with the evolutionary stage of the SNR. 

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3. Probing a Cosmogenic Origin of Astrophysical Neutrinos and Cosmic Rays Using Gamma-Ray Observations of TXS 0506+056

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae1d72  

   Acharyya, A; Archer, A; Bangale, P; Bartkoske, J T; Benbow, W; Buckley, J H; Chen, Y; Christiansen, J L; Duerr, A; Errando, M; et al (December 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract In 2017 September, a high-energy neutrino event detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube-170922A) was associated, at the 3σlevel, with a gamma-ray flare from the blazar TXS 0506+056. Cosmic rays that are accelerated in astrophysical sources can escape from their jets and interact with background radiation fields. Interactions with the extragalactic background light can produce pions and hence neutrinos, while interactions with the cosmic microwave background predominantly drive inverse Compton scattering, contributing to electromagnetic cascades in intergalactic space. The resulting secondary gamma-ray emission can be detected with high-energy gamma-ray telescopes. Here, we report on a new search for such cosmogenic cascade emission from the blazar TXS 0506+056, using a combined data set from the Fermi Large Area Telescope and VERITAS. We compare the gamma-ray spectrum and neutrino observations with the predictions of cosmic-ray-induced cascades in intergalactic space. The observed gamma-ray spectrum is modeled as a combination of the primary spectrum and the cascade spectrum. We apply a Monte Carlo simulation with a Δχ²-based likelihood analysis to jointly determine the best-fit parameters of a proton emission spectrum describing the data and derive constraints on the proton escape luminosity. Assuming an LP primary photon spectrum, we find consistency with a proton injection spectral index ofα_p ≃ 2.0 and a cutoff energy ofE_p,max ≃ 1.3 × 10¹⁶eV and constrain the isotropic proton escape luminosity to 1 × 10⁴⁴erg s⁻¹≲L_p,esc ≲ 3 × 10⁴⁵erg s⁻¹at the 90% confidence level. 

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4. Discovery and Timing of Millisecond Pulsars with the Arecibo 327 MHz Drift-scan Survey

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acf99d  

   Lewis, Evan F.; Olszanski, Timothy E.; Deneva, Julia S.; Freire, Paulo C.; McLaughlin, Maura A.; Stovall, Kevin; Bagchi, Manjari; Martinez, Jose G.; Perera, Benetge B. (October 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We present the discovery and timing solutions of four millisecond pulsars (MSPs) discovered in the Arecibo 327 MHz Drift-Scan Pulsar Survey. Three of these pulsars are in binary systems, consisting of a redback (PSR J2055+1545), a black widow (PSR J1630+3550), and a neutron star–white dwarf binary (PSR J2116+1345). The fourth MSP, PSR J2212+2450, is isolated. We present the multiyear timing solutions as well as polarization properties across a range of radio frequencies for each pulsar. We perform a multiwavelength search for emission from these systems and find an optical counterpart for PSR J2055+1545 in Gaia DR3, as well as a gamma-ray counterpart for PSR J2116+1345 with the Fermi-LAT telescope. Despite the close colocation of PSR J2055+1545 with a Fermi source, we are unable to detect gamma-ray pulsations, likely due to the large orbital variability of the system. This work presents the first two binaries found by this survey with orbital periods shorter than a day; we expect to find more in the 40% of the survey data that have yet to be searched. 

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5. Constraints on Diffuse X-Ray Emission from the TeV Halo Candidate HESS J1813-126

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae1740  

   Guevel, David; Page, Kim L; Mori, Kaya; Lien, Amy; Fang, Ke (November 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Extended regions of very high-energyγ-ray emission associated with middle-aged pulsars have been found byγ-ray observatories. These regions, called TeV halos or pulsar halos, are thought to be created when energetic electrons from a pulsar or pulsar wind nebula transport into the interstellar medium and undergo inverse Compton scattering with the cosmic microwave background radiation and the interstellar radiation field. The same electrons are expected to emit synchrotron emission in the X-ray band in the interstellar magnetic field. HESS J1813-126 is a pulsar halo candidate from which TeVγ-ray emission with extension 0 $\stackrel{\text{°}}{.}$ 21 and a hardE⁻²spectrum is observed. We searched for the synchrotron component of this pulsar halo with Swift-X-Ray Telescope (XRT). In particular, we observed two fields within the region covered by HESS J1813-126 for 35 ks each and a region nearby as a background reference for 10 ks. We also analyzed 21 ks of archival Swift-XRT observations of PSR J1813-1246 and archival Swift-XRT observations of the nearby Galactic X-ray background. We find no evidence for excess X-ray emission from the two observations near HESS J1813-126 and place an upper limit differential flux of 2.18 × 10⁻³and 2.02 × 10⁻³keV⁻¹cm⁻²s⁻¹at 1 keV, assuming a power-law spectrum in Fields 1 and 2. The archival differential flux upper limit is 3.36 × 10⁻³keV⁻¹cm⁻²s⁻¹at 1 keV. The nondetection implies that the magnetic field inside the halo is not significantly enhanced compared to the average Galactic magnetic field. 

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