The Spectrum of TeV Gamma-Rays from the Crab Nebula

John P. Finley for the Whipple Collaboration


The Crab Nebula has become established as the standard candle for TeV gamma-ray astronomy. No evidence for variability has been seen. The spectrum of gamma-rays from the Crab Nebula has been measured in the energy range 300 GeV to 4 TeV at the Whipple Observatory by the atmospheric Cherenkov technique. Two methods of analysis involving independent Monte Carlo simulations and two databases of observations (1988-89 and 1995-96) were used and gave close agreement. Using the complete spectrum of the Crab Nebula, the spectrum of relativistic electrons is deduced and the spectrum of the resulting inverse Compton gamma-ray emission is in good agreement with the measured spectrum if the ambient magnetic field is 35 nT.