Rings and Jets around PSR J2021+3651: the `Dragonfly Nebula'

Abstract

We describe recent Chandra ACIS observations of the Vela-like pulsar PSR J2021+3651 and its pulsar wind nebula (PWN). This `Dragonfly Nebula' displays an axisymmetric morphology, with bright inner jets, a double-ridged inner nebula, and a ~30" polar jet. The PWN is embedded in faint diffuse emission: a bow shock-like structure with standoff ~1' brackets the pulsar to the east and emission trails off westward for 3-4'. Thermal (kT=0.16 +/-0.02 keV) and power law emission are detected from the pulsar. The nebular X-rays show spectral steepening from Gamma=1.5 in the equatorial torus to Gamma=1.9 in the outer nebula, suggesting synchrotron burn-off. A fit to the `Dragonfly' structure suggests a large (86 +/-1 degree) inclination with a double equatorial torus. Vela is currently the only other PWN showing such double structure. The >12 kpc distance implied by the pulsar dispersion measure is not supported by the X-ray data; spectral, scale and efficiency arguments suggest a more modest 3-4 kpc.

22 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, Accepted to ApJ

References in corpus (4)

• Discovery of TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Cygnus Region of the Galaxy
• Simulated synchrotron emission from Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• Fitting Pulsar Wind Tori. II. Error Analysis and Applications
• Chandra Observation of PSR B1823-13 and its Pulsar Wind Nebula

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Milagro Observations of Multi-TeV Emission from Galactic Sources in the Fermi Bright Source List
• Thermal luminosities of cooling neutron stars
• Spatially Resolving the Very High Energy emission from MGRO J2019+37 with VERITAS
• Pulsed Gamma-rays from PSR J2021+3651 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Discovery of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Pulsations from PSR J2021+3651 with AGILE
• Gamma-ray Observation of the Cygnus Region in the 100 TeV Energy Region
• Investigating $\gamma$-ray halos around three HAWC bright sources in Fermi-LAT data
• Chandra Monitoring of the J1809-1917 Pulsar Wind Nebula and Its Field
• Investigating the multiband nonthermal emission of the 100 TeV source eHWC J2019$+$368 with a pulsar wind nebula scenario
• A NuSTAR and Chandra Investigation of the Misaligned Outflow of PSR J1101-6101 and the Lighthouse Pulsar Wind Nebula
• Observational connection of non-thermal X-ray emission from pulsars with their timing properties and thermal emission
• The power-law component of the X-ray emissions from pulsar wind nebulae and their pulsars
• High-Resolution Radio Study of the Dragonfly Nebula
• Chandra X-ray Observations of PSR J1849-0001, its Pulsar Wind Nebula, and the TeV Source HESS J1849-000
• XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of the unidentified Fermi-LAT source 3FGL J1016.5-6034: A Young Pulsar with a Nebula?
• A mechanism-independent methodology for modeling γ-ray phaseograms of pulsars in the framework of north-south symmetry