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Register a new userHubble Space Telescope detection of the millisecond pulsar J2124-3358 and its far-ultraviolet bow shock nebula
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We observed a nearby millisecond pulsar J2124-3358 with the Hubble Space Telescope in broad far-UV (FUV) and optical filters. The pulsar is detected in both bands with fluxes F(1250-2000 A)= (2.5+/-0.3)x10^-16 erg/s/cm^2 and F(3800-6000 A)=(6.4+/-0.4)x10^-17 erg/s/cm^2, which correspond to luminosities of ~5.8x10^27 and 1.4x10^27 erg/s, for d=410 pc and E(B-V)=0.03. The optical-FUV spectrum can be described by a power-law model, f_nu~nu^alpha, with slope alpha=0.18-0.48 for a conservative range of color excess, E(B-V)=0.01-0.08. Since a spectral flux rising with frequency is unusual for pulsar magnetospheric emission in this frequency range, it is possible that the spectrum is predominantly magnetospheric (power law with alpha<0) in the optical while it is dominated by thermal emission from the neutron star surface in the FUV. For a neutron star radius of 12 km, the surface temperature would be between 0.5x10^5 and 2.1x10^5 K, for alpha ranging from -1 to 0, E(B-V)=0.01-0.08, and d=340-500 pc. In addition to the pulsar, the FUV images reveal extended emission spatially coincident with the known Halpha bow shock, making PSR J2124-3358 the second pulsar (after PSR J0437-4715) with a bow shock detected in FUV.
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We report the discovery of an H-alpha-emitting bow-shock nebula powered by the nearby millisecond pulsar J2124-3358. The bow shock is very broad, and is highly asymmetric about the pulsars velocity vector. This shape is not consistent with that expected for the case of an isotropic wind interacting with a homogeneous ambient medium. Models which invoke an anisotropy in the pulsar wind, a bulk flow of the surrounding gas, or a density gradient in the ambient medium either perpendicular or parallel to the pulsars direction of motion also fail to reproduce the observed morphology. However, we find an ensemble of good fits to the nebular morphology when we consider a combination of these effects. In all such cases, we find that the pulsar is propagating through an ambient medium of mean density 0.8-1.3 cm^(-3) and bulk flow velocity ~15-25 km/s and that the star has recently encountered an increase in density by 1-10 cm^(-3) over a scale ~<0.02 pc. The wide variety of models which fit the data demonstrate that in general there is no unique set of parameters which can be inferred from the morphology of a bow-shock nebula.
We report on detection of the double pulsar system J0737-3039 in the far-UV with the ACS/SBC detector aboard HST. We measured the energy flux F = 4.5+/-1.0e-17 erg cm-2s-1 in the 1250-1550 AA band, which corresponds to the extinction-corrected luminosity L~1.5e28 erg s-1 for the distance d=1.1 kpc and a plausible reddening E(B-V)=0.1. If the detected emission comes from the entire surface of one of the neutron stars with a 13 km radius, the surface blackbody temperature is in the range T~2-5e5 K for a reasonable range of interstellar extinction. Such a temperature requires an internal heating mechanism to operate in old neutron stars, or it might be explained by heating of the surface of the less energetic Pulsar B by the relativistic wind of Pulsar A. If the far-UV emission is non-thermal (e.g., produced in the magnetosphere of Pulsar A), its spectrum exhibits a break between the UV and X-rays.
Pulsars traveling at supersonic speeds are often accompanied by cometary bow shocks seen in Halpha. We report on the first detection of a pulsar bow shock in the far-ultraviolet (FUV). We detected it in FUV images of the nearest millisecond pulsar J0437-4715 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. The images reveal a bow-like structure positionally coincident with part of the previously detected Halpha bow shock, with an apex at 10 ahead of the moving pulsar. Its FUV luminosity, L(1250-2000 A) ~ 5x10^28 erg/s, exceeds the Halpha luminosity from the same area by a factor of 10. The FUV emission could be produced by the shocked ISM matter or, less likely, by relativistic pulsar wind electrons confined by strong magnetic field fluctuations in the bow shock. In addition, in the FUV images we found a puzzling extended (~3 in size) structure overlapping with the limb of the bow shock. If related to the bow shock, it could be produced by an inhomogeneity in the ambient medium or an instability in the bow shock. We also report on a previously undetected X-ray emission extending for about 5 ahead of the pulsar, possibly a pulsar wind nebula created by shocked pulsar wind, with a luminosity L(0.5-8 keV) ~ 3x10^28 erg/s.
With six recorded nova outbursts, the prototypical recurrent nova T Pyxidis is the ideal cataclysmic variable system to assess the net change of the white dwarf mass within a nova cycle. Recent estimates of the mass ejected in the 2011 outburst ranged from a few 1.E-5 sollar mass to 3.3E-4 sollar mass, and assuming a mass accretion rate of 1.E-8 to 1.E-7 Sollar mass/yr for 44yrs, it has been concluded that the white dwaf in T Pyx is actually losing mass. Using NLTE disk modeling spectra to fit our recently obtained Hubble Space Telescope (HST) COS and STIS spectra, we find a mass accretion rate of up to two orders of magnitude larger than previously estimated. Our larger mass accretion rate is due mainly to the newly derived distance of T Pyx (4.8kpc; Sokoloski et al. 2013, larger than the previous 3.5kpc estimate), our derived reddening of E(B-V)=0.35 (based on combined IUE and GALEX spectra) and NLTE disk modeling (compared to black body and raw flux estimates in earlier works). We find that for most values of the reddening (0.25 < E(B-V) < 0.50) and white dwaf mass (0.70 to 1.35 Sollar mass) the accreted mass is larger than the ejected mass. Only for a low reddening (0.25 and smaller) combined with a large white dwaf mass (0.9 sollar mass and larger) is the ejected mass larger than the accreted one. However, the best spectral fitting results are obtained for a larger value of the reddening.
We present the first results of the MIRIAD (MIPS [Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer] Infra-Red Imaging of AGB [asymptotic giant branch] Dustshells) project using the Spitzer Space Telescope. The primary aim of the project is to probe the material distribution in the extended circumstellar envelopes (CSE) of evolved stars and recover the fossil record of their mass loss history. Hence, we must map the whole of the CSEs plus the surrounding sky for background subtraction, while avoiding the central star that is brighter than the detector saturation limit. With our unique mapping strategy, we have achieved better than one MJy/sr sensitivity in three hours of integration and successfully detected a faint (< 5 MJy/sr), extended (~400 arcsec) far-infrared nebula around the AGB star R Hya. Based on the parabolic structure of the nebula, the direction of the space motion of the star with respect to the nebula shape, and the presence of extended H alpha emission co-spatial to the nebula, we suggest that the detected far-IR nebula is due to a bow shock at the interface of the interstellar medium and the AGB wind of this moving star. This is the first detection of the stellar-wind bow-shock interaction for an AGB star and exemplifies the potential of Spitzer as a tool to examine the detailed structure of extended far-IR nebulae around bright central sources.
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