Abstract
Bignami et al.1 have reported evidence for an increasing 59-s period in the X-ray emission from the high-energy (E ≳ 50 MeV) γ-ray source Geminga. Their claim is based on results of a search for periodicities at around 59s in the emission from the X-ray source 1EO630 + 178, which has been proposed as a possible counterpart of Geminga2. We show here that the primitive indication by SAS-2 (ref. 3) of a 59-s periodicity in the γ-ray flux from Geminga is not statistically significant, and because it has also not been confirmed by COS-B (ref. 4), must be disregarded; the statistical significance of the results obtained from periodicity searches in the X-ray data is significantly lower than that reported by Bignami et al.1. As a consequence, the identification of 1E0630 + 178 with the γ-ray source 2CG195 + 04 (Geminga) through a 59-s pulsation cannot be claimed.
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Buccheri, R., D'Amico, N., Hermsen, W. et al. Statistical significance of the 59-s periodicity of Geminga and 1EO630 + 178. Nature 316, 131–132 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316131a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316131a0
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