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Register a new userChandra View of Pulsar Wind Nebula Tori
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Aya Bamba
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The results from a systematic study of eleven pulsar wind nebulae with a torus structure observed with the Chandra X-ray observatory are presented. A significant observational correlation is found between the radius of the tori, r, and the spin-down luminosity of the pulsars, Edot. A logarithmic linear fit between the two parameters yields log r = (0.57 +- 0.22) log Edot -22.3 +- 8.0 with a correlation coefficient of 0.82, where the units of r and Edot are pc and ergs s^-1, respectively. The value obtained for the Edot dependency of r is consistent with a square root law, which is theoretically expected. This is the first observational evidence of this dependency, and provides a useful tool to estimate the spin-down energies of pulsars without direct detections of pulsation. Applications of this dependency to some other samples are also shown.
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PSR B0656+14 is a middle-aged pulsar with a characteristic age $tau_c=110$ kyr and spin-down power $dot{E}= 3.8times 10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Using Chandra data, we searched for a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) and found evidence of extended emission in a 3.5-15 arcsec annulus around the pulsar, with a luminosity $L_{rm 0.5-8,keV}^{rm ext} sim 8times 10^{28}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (at the distance of 288 pc), which is a fraction of $sim 0.05$ of the non-thermal pulsar luminosity. If the extended emission is mostly due to a PWN, its X-ray efficiency, $eta_{rm pwn} = L_{rm 0.5-8,keV}^{rm ext}/dot{E} sim 2times 10^{-6}$, is lower than those of most other known PWNe but similar to that of the middle-aged Geminga pulsar. The small radial extent and nearly round shape of the putative PWN can be explained if the pulsar is receding (or approaching) in the direction close to the line of sight. The very soft spectrum of the extended emission ($Gammasim 8$), much softer than those of typical PWNe, could be explained by a contribution from a faint dust scattering halo, which may dominate in the outer part of the extended emission.
PSR J1809-1917 is a young ($tau=51$ kyr) energetic ($dot{E}=1.8times10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$) radio pulsar powering an X-ray pulsar wind nebula (PWN) that exhibits morphological variability. We report on the results of a new monitoring campaign by the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), carried out across 6 epochs with a $sim$7-week cadence. The compact nebula can be interpreted as a jet-dominated outflow along the pulsars spin axis. Its variability can be the result of Doppler boosting in the kinked jet whose shape changes with time (akin to the Vela pulsar jet). The deep X-ray image, composed of 405 ks of new and 131 ks of archival CXO data, reveals an arcminute-scale extended nebula (EN) whose axis of symmetry aligns with both the axis of the compact nebula and the direction toward the peak of the nearby TeV source HESS J1809-193. The ENs morphology and extent suggest that the pulsar is likely moving through the ambient medium at a transonic velocity. We also resolved a faint 7$$-long nonthermal collimated structure protruding from the PWN. It is possibly another instance of a misaligned outflow (also known as a kinetic jet) produced by high-energy particles escaping the PWNs confinement and tracing the interstellar magnetic field lines. Finally, taking advantage of the 536 ks exposure, we analyzed the point sources in the J1809 field and classified them using multiwavelength data. None of the classified sources in the field can reasonably be expected to produce the extended TeV flux in the region, suggesting that PSR J1809-1917 is indeed the counterpart to HESS/eHWC J1809-193.
The nearby, middle-aged PSR B1055-52 has many properties in common with the Geminga pulsar. Motivated by the Gemingas enigmatic and prominent pulsar wind nebula (PWN), we searched for extended emission around PSR B1055-52 with Chandra ACIS. For an energy range 0.3-1 keV, we found a 4 sigma flux enhancement in a 4.9-20 arcsec annulus around the pulsar. There is a slight asymmetry in the emission close, 1.5-4 arcsec, to the pulsar. The excess emission has a luminosity of about 10^{29} erg s^{-1} in an energy range 0.3-8 keV for a distance of 350 pc. Overall, the faint extended emission around PSR B1055-52 is consistent with a PWN of an aligned rotator moving away from us along the line of sight with supersonic velocity, but a contribution from a dust scattering halo cannot be excluded. Comparing the properties of other nearby, middle-aged pulsars, we suggest that the geometry -- the orientations of rotation axis, magnetic field axis, and the sight-line -- is the deciding factor for a pulsar to show a prominent PWN. For PSR B1055-52, we also report on a flux decrease of at least 30% between the 2000 XMM-Newton and our 2012 Chandra observation. We tentatively attribute this flux decrease to a cross-calibration problem, but further investigations of the pulsar are required to exclude actual intrinsic flux changes.
We report on Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) observations of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) associated with PSR B0355+54 (eight observations with a 395 ks total exposure, performed over an 8 month period). We investigated the spatial and spectral properties of the emission coincident with the pulsar, compact nebula (CN), and extended tail. We find that the CN morphology can be interpreted in a way that suggests a small angle between the pulsar spin axis and our line-of-sight, as inferred from the radio data. On larger scales, emission from the 7 (2 pc) tail is clearly seen. We also found hints of two faint extensions nearly orthogonal to the direction of the pulsars proper motion. The spectrum extracted at the pulsar position can be described with an absorbed power-law + blackbody model. The nonthermal component can be attributed to magnetospheric emission, while the thermal component can be attributed to emission from either a hot spot (e.g., a polar cap) or the entire neutron star surface. Surprisingly, the spectrum of the tail shows only a slight hint of cooling with increasing distance from the pulsar. This implies either a low magnetic field with fast flow speed, or particle re-acceleration within the tail. We estimate physical properties of the PWN and compare the morphologies of the CN and the extended tail with those of other bow shock PWNe observed with long CXO exposures.
We report on six new Chandra observations of the Geminga pulsar wind nebula (PWN). The PWN consists of three distinct elongated structures - two $approx 0.2 d_{250}$ pc long lateral tails and a segmented axial tail of $approx 0.05 d_{250}$ pc length, where $d_{250}=d/(250 {rm pc})$. The photon indices of the power law spectra of the lateral tails, $Gamma approx 1$, are significantly harder than those of the pulsar ($Gamma approx 1.5$) and the axial tail ($Gamma approx 1.6$). There is no significant diffuse X-ray emission between the lateral tails -- the ratio of the X-ray surface brightness between the south tail and this sky area is at least 12. The lateral tails apparently connect directly to the pulsar and show indication of moving footpoints. The axial tail comprises time-variable emission blobs. However, there is no evidence for constant or decelerated outward motion of these blobs. Different physical models are consistent with the observed morphology and spectra of the Geminga PWN. In one scenario, the lateral tails could represent an azimuthally asymmetric shell whose hard emission is caused by the Fermi acceleration mechanism of colliding winds. In another scenario, the lateral tails could be luminous, bent polar outflows, while the blobs in the axial tail could represent a crushed torus. In a resemblance to planetary magnetotails, the blobs of the axial tail might also represent short-lived plasmoids which are formed by magnetic field reconnection in the relativistic plasma of the pulsar wind tail.
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