No Arabic abstract
We studied the radio spectrum of PSR B1259-63 in an unique binary with Be star LS 2883 and showed that the shape of the spectrum depends on the orbital phase. We proposed a qualitative model which explains this evolution. We considered two mechanisms that might influence the observed radio emission: free-free absorption and cyclotron resonance. Recently published results have revealed a new aspect in pulsar radio spectra. There were found objects with turnover at high frequencies in spectra, called gigahertz-peaked spectra (GPS) pulsars. Most of them adjoin such interesting environments as HII regions or compact pulsar wind nebulae (PWN). Thus, it is suggested that the turnover phenomenon is associated with the environment than being related intrinsically to the radio emission mechanism. Having noticed the apparent resemblance between the B1259-63 spectrum and the GPS, we suggest that the same mechanisms should be responsible for both cases. Therefore, the case of B1259-63 can be treated as a key factor to explain the GPS phenomenon observed for the solitary pulsars with interesting environments and also another types of spectra (e.g. with break).
In this paper we give the first attempt to model the evolution of the spectrum of PSR B1259$-$63 radio emission while the pulsar orbits the companion Be star. As suggested by Kijak et al. (Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 418:L114, 2011a) this binary system can be useful in understanding the origin of the gigahertz-peaked spectrum of pulsars. The model explains, at least qualitatively, the observed alterations of the spectral shape depending on the orbital phases of this pulsar. Thus, our results support the hypothesis that the external factors have a significant impact on the observed radio emission of a pulsar. The model can also contribute to our understanding of the origin of some non-typical spectral shapes(e.g. flat or broken spectra).
We present the results of modelling of the radio spectrum evolution and dispersion measure variations of PSR B1259-63, a pulsar in a binary system with Be star LS 2883. We base our model on a hypothesis that the observed variations of the spectrum are caused by thermal free-free absorption occurring in the pulsar surroundings. We reproduce the observed pulsar spectral shapes in order to examine the influence of the stellar wind of LS 2883 and the equatorial disc on the pulsars radiation. The simulations of the pulsars radio emission and its consequent free-free absorption give us an insight into the impact of stellar wind and equatorial disc of LS 2883 has on the shapes of PSR B1259-63 radio spectra, providing an evidence for the connection between gigahertz-peaked spectra phenomenon and the close environment of the pulsar. Additionally, we supplement our model with an external absorbing medium, which results in a good agreement between simulated and observational data.
We present observations of the eccentric gamma-ray binary B1259-63/LS2883 with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The images reveal a variable, extended about 4, or about 1000 times the binary orbit size) structure, which appears to be moving away from the binary with the velocity of 0.05 of the speed of light. The observed emission is interpreted as synchrotron radiation from relativistic particles supplied by the pulsar. However, the fast motion through the circumbinary medium would require the emitting cloud to be loaded with a large amount of baryonic matter. Alternatively, the extended emission can be interpreted as a variable extrabinary shock in the pulsar wind outflow launched near binary apastron. The resolved variable X-ray nebula provides an opportunity to probe pulsar winds and their interaction with stellar winds in a previously inaccessible way.
The pulsar/massive star binary system PSR B1259-63 / LS 2883 is one of the best-studied gamma-ray binaries, a class of systems whose bright gamma-ray flaring can provide important insights into high-energy physics. Using the Australian Long Baseline Array we have conducted very long baseline interferometric observations of PSR B1259-63 over 4.4 years, fully sampling the 3.4-year orbital period. From our measured parallax of $0.38pm0.05$ mas we use a Bayesian approach to infer a distance of $2.6^{+0.4}_{-0.3}$ kpc. We find that the binary orbit is viewed at an angle of $154pm3$ degrees to the line of sight, implying that the pulsar moves clockwise around its orbit as viewed on the sky. Taking our findings together with previous results from pulsar timing observations, all seven orbital elements for the system are now fully determined. We use our measurement of the inclination angle to constrain the mass of the stellar companion to lie in the range 15-31$M_{odot}$. Our measured distance and proper motion are consistent with the system having originated in the Cen OB1 association and receiving a modest natal kick, causing it to have moved $sim$8 pc from its birthplace over the past $sim3times10^5$ years. The orientation of the orbit on the plane of the sky matches the direction of motion of the X-ray synchrotron-emitting knot observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory to be moving away from the system.
PSR B1259-63 is a middle-aged radio pulsar (P=48 ms, tau=330 kyr, Edot=8.3*10^{35} erg/s) in an eccentric binary (P_orb =3.4 yr, e=0.87) with a high-mass Be companion, SS 2883. We observed the binary near apastron with the Chandra ACIS detector on 2009 May 14 for 28 ks. In addition to the previously studied pointlike source at the pulsars position, we detected extended emission on the south-southwest side of this source. The pointlike source spectrum can be described by the absorbed power-law model with the hydrogen column density N_H = (2.5+/-0.6)*10^{21} cm^{-2}, photon index Gamma = 1.6+/-0.1, and luminosity L_{0.5-8 keV} = 1.3*10^{33} d_3^2 erg/s, where d_3 is the distance scaled to 3 kpc. This emission likely includes an unresolved part of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) created by the colliding winds from the pulsar and the Be companion, and a contribution from the pulsar magnetosphere. The extended emission apparently consists of two components. The highly significant compact component looks like a southward extension of the pointlike source image, seen up to about 4 arcsec from the pulsar position. Its spectrum has about the same slope as the pointlike source spectrum, while its luminosity is a factor of 10 lower. We also detected an elongated feature extended ~15 arcsec southwest of the pulsar, but significance of this detection is marginal. We tentatively interpret the resolved compact PWN component as a shocked pulsar wind blown out of the binary by the wind of the Be component, while the elongated component could be a pulsar jet.