J/A+A/712/A60 A catalogue of TeV pulsar environments (Wach+, 2026)
A catalogue of TeV pulsar environments.
Wach T., Linden T., Mitchell A.M.W., Spencer S.T.
<Astron. Astrophys. 712, A60 (2026)>
=2026A&A...712A..60W 2026A&A...712A..60W (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Pulsars ; Gamma rays
Keywords: catalogues - pulsars: general - gamma rays: general
Abstract:
Pulsars and their environments represent a major class of Galactic
gamma-ray sources. Their complex evolution, shaped by the interactions
of the pulsar outflow with both the supernova remnant (SNR) and the
surrounding interstellar medium (ISM), produces diverse morphological
and spectral characteristics observable from radio to PeV energies.
This work aims to collect and homogenize data from all major operating
TeV observatories, presenting the first comprehensive catalogue of TeV
gamma-ray properties of pulsar environments, and facilitating
systematic studies of the evolution of PWNe and pulsar halos.
The catalogue is created from information regarding all gamma-ray
sources that have been classified as pulsar-associated sources in
published results from H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS, HAWC, and LHAASO. For
each source, the observed gamma-ray properties are cross-matched with
pulsar properties from the ATNF catalogue and Fermi-LAT pulsar
catalogue. This information is then used to predict the surface
brightness for powerful pulsars around which no PWN has been detected
yet.
The final catalogue comprises all currently known TeV sources
associated with pulsars, as seen by different instruments, spanning
all evolutionary stages. The sample consists of 128 gamma-ray sources,
connected to 66 different pulsars. It reflects that the TeV-detected
population is dominated by young and energetic pulsars located near
the Galactic plane, but includes a growing number of middle-aged
systems detected as extended halos. Only a weak correlation is found
between TeV luminosity and pulsar characteristic age, indicating that
TeV evolution is driven by environmental and transport effects rather
than by spin-down age alone. Additionally, 5 pulsars which should host
a PWN detectable by CTAO are identified as prime targets for future
observation to improve our understanding of properties inhibiting the
formation of a TeV nebula.
This publicly available catalogue provides a uniform foundation for
future population studies and for constraining models of particle
transport and energy losses in pulsar environments.
Description:
Catalogue tables for all pulsars around which extended TeV emission
has been observed. The tables follow the description given in Appendix
C.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
assoc.dat 182 66 Pulsars and their corresponding gamma-ray source
identifiers by detector
hawc.dat 292 27 gamma-ray properties of the PWNe as
observed by HAWC
hess.dat 329 36 gamma-ray properties of the PWNe as observed
by H.E.S.S.
km2a.dat 379 27 gamma-ray properties of the PWNe as observed
by LHAASO's KM2A
magic.dat 274 5 gamma-ray properties of the PWNe as observed
by MAGIC
veritas.dat 262 7 gamma-ray properties of the PWNe as observed
by VERITAS
wcda.dat 378 26 gamma-ray properties of the PWNe as observed
by LHAASO's WCDA
prop/* . 3 csv files for pulsar properties from ATNF and
3 Fermi-LAT catalog
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See also:
https://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat : psrcat Hone page
https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/access/lat/12yr_catalog : Ferni Home page
Byte-by-byte Description of file: assoc.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 2 I2 --- Seq [0/65] Sequential number
4- 13 A10 --- JNAME Pulsar Identifier
15- 33 A19 --- LHAASO LHAASO identifier of the source
associated with the pulsar
35-114 A80 --- HAWC HAWC identifier of the source
associated with the pulsar
116-149 A34 --- HESS H.E.S.S. identifier of the source
associated with the pulsar
151-168 A18 --- MAGIC MAGIC identifier of the source
associated with the pulsar
170-182 A13 --- VERITAS VERITAS identifier of the source
associated with the pulsar
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: hawc.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 14 A14 --- SourceName gamma-ray source Identifier
16- 25 A10 --- JNAME Pulsar identifier
27- 31 A5 --- SpatialModel Spatial model used (Point/Disk/Gauss)
33- 38 F6.2 deg RAdeg Right Ascension (J2000)
40- 43 F4.2 deg e_RAdeg Right Ascension error
45- 50 F6.2 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
52- 55 F4.2 deg e_DEdeg Declination error
57- 60 F4.2 deg r39 1-sigma containment radius
62- 65 F4.2 deg e_r39 Radius error
67- 70 F4.1 TeV E0 Reference energy of the spectral Model
72- 79 F8.2 --- TS ? Test statistic
81- 84 A4 --- SpectralModel Spectral model (PL/BPL/ECPL)
86- 89 F4.2 --- Gamma Spectral index
91- 94 F4.2 --- e_Gamma Spectral index error
96- 99 F4.2 --- beta ? Spectral curvature
101-104 F4.2 --- e_beta ? Spectral curvature error
106-109 F4.1 TeV Ecut ? Cutoff energy
111-113 F3.1 TeV e_Ecut ? Cutoff energy error
115-118 A4 --- Catalogue Catalogue from which the parameters
were extracted
120-178 A59 --- Pub Reference publication / URL
180-184 F5.2 pc Offset ? Pulsar-emission offset
186-189 F4.2 pc e_Offset ? Offset error
191-195 F5.2 pc Ext ? Physical extension
197-200 F4.2 pc e_Ext ? Extension error
202-223 E22.17 10-7W Lum ? Gamma-ray luminosity
225-246 E22.17 10-7W e_Lum ? Luminosity error
248-269 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 SB ? Surface brightness
271-292 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 e_SB ? Surface brightness error
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: hess.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 15 A15 --- SourceName gamma-ray source Identifier
17- 26 A10 --- JNAME Pulsar identifier
28- 32 A5 --- SpatialModel Spatial model used (Point/Disk/Gauss)
34- 39 F6.2 deg RAdeg Right Ascension (J2000)
41- 44 F4.2 deg e_RAdeg Right Ascension error
46- 51 F6.2 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
53- 56 F4.2 deg e_DEdeg Declination error
58- 61 F4.2 deg r39 1-sigma containment radius
63- 66 F4.2 deg e_r39 Radius error
68- 71 F4.2 --- e ? Eccentricity
73- 76 F4.2 --- e_e ? Eccentricity error
78- 81 F4.1 deg phi ? Position angle
83- 85 F3.1 deg e_phi ? Position angle error
87- 89 F3.1 TeV E0 Reference energy of the spectral Model
91- 97 F7.2 --- TS ? Test statistic
99-102 A4 --- SpectralModel Spectral model (PL/BPL/ECPL)
104-107 F4.2 --- Gamma Spectral index
109-112 F4.2 --- e_Gamma Spectral index error
114-117 F4.2 --- beta ? Spectral curvature
119-121 F3.1 --- e_beta ? Spectral curvature error
123-127 F5.2 TeV Ecut ? Cutoff energy
129-132 F4.2 TeV e_Ecut ? Cutoff energy error
134-137 A4 --- Catalogue Catalogue from which the parameters
were extracted
139-216 A78 --- Pub Reference publication / URL
218-222 F5.2 pc Offset ? Pulsar emission offset
224-226 F3.1 pc e_Offset ? Offset error
228-232 F5.2 pc Ext ? Physical extension
234-237 F4.2 pc e_Ext ? Extension error
239-260 E22.17 10-7W Lum ? Gamma-ray luminosity
262-283 E22.17 10-7W e_Lum ? Luminosity error
285-306 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 SB ? Surface brightness
308-329 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 e_SB ? Surface brightness error
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: km2a.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 19 A19 --- SourceName gamma-ray source Identifier
21- 30 A10 --- JNAME Pulsar identifier
32- 36 A5 --- SpatialModel Spatial model used (Point/Disk/Gauss)
38- 43 F6.2 deg RAdeg Right Ascension (J2000)
45- 48 F4.2 deg e_RAdeg Right Ascension Error
50- 55 F6.2 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
57- 60 F4.2 deg e_DEdeg Declination Error
62- 65 F4.2 deg r39 1-sigma containment radius
67- 70 F4.2 deg e_r39 Radius Error
72- 75 F4.1 TeV E0 Reference energy of spectral model
77- 83 F7.1 --- TS Test statistic
85- 86 A2 --- SpectralModel Spectral model (PL/BPL/ECPL)
88- 91 F4.2 --- Gamma Spectral index
93- 96 F4.2 --- e_Gamma Spectral index error
98-104 A7 --- Catalogue Catalogue source
106-164 A59 --- Pub Reference publication / URL
166-170 F5.2 pc Offset ? Pulsar-emission offset
172-175 F4.2 pc e_Offset ? Offset error
177-181 F5.2 pc Ext ? Physical extension
183-186 F4.2 pc e_Ext ? Extension error
188-209 E22.17 10-7W Lum ? Gamma-ray luminosity
(single-instrument)
211-232 E22.17 10-7W e_Lum ? Luminosity error
234-255 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 SB ? Surface brightness
(single-instrument)
257-278 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 e_SB ? Surface brightness error
280-283 F4.2 --- Indexadapt ? Spectral index (combined WCDA+KM2A)
285-287 F3.1 --- e_Indexadapt ? Spectral index error
289-310 E22.17 10-7W Lumadapt ? Gamma-ray luminosity (combined fit)
312-333 E22.17 10-7W e_Lumadapt ? Luminosity error
335-356 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 SBadapt ? Surface brightness (combined fit)
358-379 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 e_SBadapt ? Brightness error
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: magic.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 18 A18 --- SourceName gamma-ray source Identifier
20- 29 A10 --- JNAME Pulsar identifier
31- 35 A5 --- SpatialModel Spatial model used (Point/Disk/Gauss)
37- 42 F6.2 deg RAdeg Right Ascension (J2000)
44- 47 F4.2 deg e_RAdeg Right Ascension error
49- 54 F6.2 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
56- 59 F4.2 deg e_DEdeg Declination error
61- 64 F4.2 deg r39 1-sigma containment radius
66- 69 F4.2 deg e_r39 Radius error
71- 74 F4.2 --- e ? Eccentricity
76- 79 F4.2 --- e_e ? Eccentricity error
81- 84 F4.1 deg phi ? Position angle
86- 88 F3.1 deg e_phi ? Position angle error
90- 92 F3.1 TeV E0 Reference energy of the spectral Model
94- 96 F3.1 --- TS ? Test statistic
98- 99 A2 --- SpectralModel Spectral model (PL/BPL/ECPL)
101-104 F4.2 --- Gamma Spectral index
106-109 F4.2 --- e_Gamma Spectral index error
111-115 F5.2 --- beta ? Spectral curvature
117-120 F4.2 --- e_beta ? Spectral curvature error
122-123 A2 --- Catalogue Catalogue from which the parameters
were extracted
125-162 A38 --- Pub Reference publication / URL
164-168 F5.2 pc Offset Pulsar-emission offset
170-172 F3.1 pc e_Offset Offset error
174-178 F5.2 pc Ext Physical extension
180-183 F4.2 pc e_Ext Extension error
185-205 E21.16 10-7W Lum Gamma-ray luminosity
207-228 E22.16 10-7W e_Lum Luminosity error
230-251 E22.16 10-7W/pc2 SB Surface brightness
253-274 E22.16 10-7W/pc2 e_SB Surface brightness error
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: veritas.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 13 A13 --- SourceName gamma-ray source Identifier
15- 24 A10 --- JNAME Pulsar identifier
26- 30 A5 --- SpatialModel Spatial model used (Point/Disk/Gauss)
32- 37 F6.2 deg RAdeg Right Ascension (J2000)
39- 42 F4.2 deg e_RAdeg Right Ascension error
44- 49 F6.2 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
51- 54 F4.2 deg e_DEdeg Declination error
56- 59 F4.2 deg r39 1-sigma containment radius
61- 64 F4.2 deg e_r39 Radius error
66- 69 F4.2 --- e ? Eccentricity
71- 74 F4.2 --- e_e ? Eccentricity error
76- 79 F4.1 deg phi ? Position angle
81- 83 F3.1 TeV E0 Reference energy of the spectral Model
85- 89 F5.1 --- TS ? Test statistic
91- 92 A2 --- SpectralModel Spectral model (PL/BPL/ECPL)
94- 97 F4.2 --- Gamma Spectral index
99-102 F4.2 --- e_Gamma Spectral index error
104-108 F5.2 --- beta ? Spectral curvature
110-113 F4.2 --- e_beta ? Spectral curvature error
115-116 A2 --- Catalogue Catalogue from which the parameters
were extracted
118-149 A32 --- Pub Reference publication / URL
151-155 F5.2 pc Offset Pulsar-emission offset
157-159 F3.1 pc e_Offset Offset error
161-165 F5.2 pc Ext Physical extension
167-170 F4.2 pc e_Ext Extension error
172-193 E22.17 10-7W Lum Gamma-ray luminosity
195-216 E22.17 10-7W e_Lum ? Luminosity error
218-239 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 SB ? Surface brightness
241-262 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 e_SB ? Surface brightness error
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: wcda.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 19 A19 --- SourceName gamma-ray source Identifier
21- 30 A10 --- JNAME Pulsar identifier
32- 36 A5 --- SpatialModel Spatial model used (Point/Disk/Gauss)
38- 43 F6.2 deg RAdeg Right Ascension (J2000)
45- 48 F4.2 deg e_RAdeg ? Right Ascension error
50- 55 F6.2 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
57- 60 F4.2 deg e_DEdeg ? Declination error
62- 65 F4.2 deg r39 1-sigma containment radius
67- 70 F4.2 deg e_r39 Radius error
72- 74 F3.1 TeV E0 Reference energy of spectral model
76- 82 F7.1 --- TS ? Test statistic
84- 85 A2 --- SpectralModel Spectral model (PL/BPL/ECPL)
87- 90 F4.2 --- Gamma ? Spectral index
92- 95 F4.2 --- e_Gamma ? Spectral index error
97-103 A7 --- Catalogue Catalogue source
105-163 A59 --- Pub Reference publication / URL
165-169 F5.2 pc Offset ? Pulsar-emission offset
171-174 F4.2 pc e_Offset ? Offset error
176-180 F5.2 pc Ext ? Physical extension
182-185 F4.2 pc e_Ext ? Extension error
187-208 E22.17 10-7W Lum ? Gamma-ray luminosity
(single-instrument)
210-231 E22.17 10-7W e_Lum ? Luminosity error
233-254 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 SB ? Surface brightness
(single-instrument)
256-277 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 e_SB ? Surface brightness error
279-282 F4.2 --- Indexadapt ? Spectral index (combined WCDA+KM2A)
284-286 F3.1 --- e_Indexadapt ? Spectral index error
288-309 E22.17 10-7W Lumadapt ? Gamma-ray luminosity (combined fit)
311-332 E22.17 10-7W e_Lumadapt ? Luminosity error
334-355 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 SBadapt ? Surface brightness (combined fit)
357-378 E22.17 10-7W/pc2 e_SBadapt ? Brightness error
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Acknowledgements:
Tina Wach, tina.wach(at)mpi-hd.mpg.de
License: CC-BY-4.0
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 16-Jun-2026