IN 2015 THE GAMMA-RAY AND RADIO PULSAR PSR J2032+4127 WAS IDENTIFIED AS THE COMPACT OBJECT IN A BINARY SYSTEM TOGETHER WITH THE BE STAR MT91 213. THE SOURCE HOLDS PARTICULAR INTEREST AS ITS LOCATION COINCIDES WITH A STEADY EXTENDED TEV GAMMA-RAY SOURCE TEV J2032+4130 WHICH IS BELIEVED TO BE POWERED BY THE WIND NEBULA ASSOCIATED WITH THE PULSAR. WHILE MANY GALACTIC TEV GAMMA-RAY SOURCES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH PULSAR WIND NEBULAE TEV GAMMA-RAY BINARY SYSTEMS ARE MUCH LESS COMMON WITH ONLY FIVE SUCH SYSTEMS DETECTED IN OUR GALAXY. THE COMBINATION OF BOTH IF CONFIRMED WOULD BE UNIQUE. THE BINARY ORBIT IS HIGHLY ECCENTRIC WITH A PERIOD OF 45-50 YEARS. PERIASTRON IS PREDICTED TO OCCUR WITHIN SWIFT CYCLE 13 AROUND NOVEMBER 2017. WE HAVE BEEN MONITORING THE SYSTEM WITH SWIFT THROUGHOUT CYCLE 13 OVER WHICH TIME THE SOURCE X-RAY FLUX HAS INCREASED DRAMATICALLY. WE HAVE ESTABLISHED A MULTI-INSTRUMENT OBSERVING CAMPAIGN TO COVER THE PERIASTRON PERIOD INCLUDING SWIFT FERMI VERITAS AND MAGIC. HERE WE PROPOSE CONTINUED REGULAR X-RAY MONITORING WITH SWIFT TO COVER THE POST-PERIASTRON PERIOD WHEN WE EXPECT THE EMISSION TO FALL BACK TOWARDS THE QUIESCENT STATE. OBSERVATIONS OVER SWIFT CYCLE 14 WITH POST-PERIASTRON COVERAGE OF A SIMILAR DURATION AND CADENCE AS THE PRE-PERIASTRON MONITORING WILL ALLOW STRINGENT TESTS OF MODELS OF THE GEOMETRY AND HIGHENERGY EMISSION MECHANISMS IN THIS SYSTEM.
$35,000FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Delaware, Newark DE