Determine whether the pulsed gamma-ray enhancement is genuine

Determine whether the nominal post-transition enhancement of the pulsed gamma-ray component represents a genuine physical increase or merely a statistical fluctuation.

Background

The paper searches for a gamma-ray counterpart to the pronounced post-spin-down-rate-transition brightening of the off-pulse X-ray emission. The phase-averaged and non-pulsed gamma-ray components show no statistically significant change, while the pulsed component has a nominal increase of approximately 34%. Because the statistical evidence is insufficient to distinguish a real enhancement from a fluctuation, the physical significance of the pulsed-component variation remains unresolved.

References

The nominal enhancement of the pulsed component remains suggestive, but the present data do not distinguish it from statistical fluctuations.

— Flux Evolution of PSR B0540--69 and the Spectral Energy Distribution of its Pulsar Wind Nebula  (2610.13182 - Zhang et al., 9 Oct 2026) in Section 4.2, "$\gamma$-ray"