No Arabic abstract
Radio observations of the region surrounding PSR J1301-6305 at 5.5 GHz and 7.5 GHz were conducted with ATCA on September 5th, 2013. They were dedicated to the search of the radio counterpart of the evolved pulsar wind nebula HESS J1303-631, detected in X-rays and GeV-TeV gamma-rays. The collected data do not reveal any significant extended emission associated with PSR J1301-6305. In addition, archival 1.384 GHz and 2.368 GHz data do not show any evidence for a radio counterpart of HESS J1303-631. Archival 1.384 GHz observations reveal a detection of an extended structure centred at an angular distance of 190 from the pulsar. This extended structure might be a Supernova remnant (SNR) and a potential birth place of PSR J1301-6305. The implications of the lack of radio counterpart of HESS J1303-631 on the understanding of the nature of the PWN are discussed.
Based on its energy-dependent morphology the initially unidentified very high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma-ray source HESS J1303-631 was recently associated with the pulsar PSR J1301-6305. Subsequent detection of X-ray and GeV counterparts also supports the identification of the H.E.S.S. source as evolved pulsar wind nebula (PWN). We report here on recent radio observations of the PSR J1301-6305 field of view (FOV) with ATCA dedicated to search for the radio counterpart of this evolved PWN. Observations at 5.5 GHz and 7.5 GHz do not reveal any extended emission associated with the pulsar. The analysis of the archival 1.384 GHz and 2.368 GHz data also does not show any significant emission. The 1.384 GHz data reveal a hint of an extended shell-like emission in the PSR J1301-6305 FOV which might be a supernova remnant. We discuss the implications of the non-detection at radio wavelengths on the nature and evolution of the PWN as well as the possibility of the SNR candidate being the birth place of PSR J1301-6305.
The previously unidentified very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray source HESS J1303-631, discovered in 2004, is re-examined including new data from the H.E.S.S. Cherenkov telescope array. Archival data from the XMM-Newton X-ray satellite and from the PMN radio survey are also examined. Detailed morphological and spectral studies of VHE gamma-ray emission as well as of the XMM-Newton X-ray data are performed. Significant energy-dependent morphology of the gamma-ray source is detected with high-energy emission (E > 10 TeV) positionally coincident with the pulsar PSR J1301-6305 and lower energy emission (E <2 TeV) extending sim 0.4^{circ} to the South-East of the pulsar. The spectrum of the VHE source can be described with a power-law with an exponential cut-off N_{0} = (5.6 pm 0.5) X 10^{-12} TeV^-1 cm^-2 s^-1, Gamma = 1.5 pm 0.2) and E_{rm cut} = (7.7 pm 2.2) TeV. The PWN is also detected in X-rays, extending sim 2-3 from the pulsar position towards the center of the gamma-ray emission region. The spectral energy distribution (SED) is well described by a one zone leptonic scenario which, with its associated caveats, predicts a very low average magnetic field for this source. Significant energy-dependent morphology of this source, as well as the identification of an associated X-ray PWN from XMM-Newton observations enable identification of the VHE source as an evolved PWN associated to the pulsar PSR J1303-6305. However, the large discrepancy in emission region sizes and the low level of synchrotron radiation suggest a multi-population leptonic nature. The low implied magnetic field suggests that the PWN has undergone significant expansion. This would explain the low level of synchrotron radiation and the difficulty in detecting counterparts at lower energies, the reason this source was originally classified as a dark VHE gamma-ray source.
We present a new and deep analysis of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) HESS,J1825--137 with a comprehensive data set of almost 400 hours taken with the H.E.S.S. array between 2004 and 2016. The large amount of data, and the inclusion of low-threshold H.E.S.S. II data allows us to include a wide energy range of more than 2.5 orders of magnitude, ranging from 150 GeV up to 70 TeV. We exploit this rich data set to study the morphology and the spectral distributions of various subregions of this largely extended source in more detail. We find that HESS,J1825--137 is not only the brightest source in that region above 32 TeV, but is also one of the most luminous of all firmly identified pulsar wind nebulae in the Milky Way.
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.
Aims: We present a detailed view of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) HESS J1825-137. We aim to constrain the mechanisms dominating the particle transport within the nebula, accounting for its anomalously large size and spectral characteristics. Methods: The nebula is studied using a deep exposure from over 12 years of H.E.S.S. I operation, together with data from H.E.S.S. II improving the low energy sensitivity. Enhanced energy-dependent morphological and spatially-resolved spectral analyses probe the Very High Energy (VHE, E > 0.1 TeV) gamma-ray properties of the nebula. Results: The nebula emission is revealed to extend out to 1.5 degrees from the pulsar, ~1.5 times further than previously seen, making HESS J1825--137, with an intrinsic diameter of ~100 pc, potentially the largest gamma-ray PWN currently known. Characterisation of the nebulas strongly energy-dependent morphology enables the particle transport mechanisms to be constrained. A dependence of the nebula extent with energy of R $propto$ E^alpha with alpha = -0.29 +/- 0.04 (stat) +/- 0.05 (sys) disfavours a pure diffusion scenario for particle transport within the nebula. The total gamma-ray flux of the nebula above 1~TeV is found to be (1.12 +/- 0.03 (stat) +/- 0.25 (sys)) $times 10^{-11}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, corresponding to ~64% of the flux of the Crab Nebula. Conclusions: HESS J1825-137 is a PWN with clear energy-dependent morphology at VHE gamma-ray energies. This source is used as a laboratory to investigate particle transport within middle-aged PWNe. Deep observations of this highly spatially-extended PWN enable a spectral map of the region to be produced, providing insights into the spectral variation within the nebula.