Deep Chandra Observations of the Pulsar Wind Nebula Created by PSR B0355+54

Abstract

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 pulsar's 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.

11 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (10)

• Draping of Cluster Magnetic Fields over Bullets and Bubbles -- Morphology and Dynamic Effects
• Magnetic draping of merging cores and radio bubbles in clusters of galaxies
• Pulsar Parallaxes at 5 GHz with the Very Long Baseline Array
• CHANDRA ACIS Spectroscopy of N157B -- A Young Composite Supernova Remnant in a Superbubble
• X-ray Observations of Parsec-Scale Tails behind Two Middle-Aged Pulsars
• On the X-ray feature associated with the Guitar Nebula
• Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of asymmetric pulsar wind bow shocks
• X-ray emission properties of the old pulsar PSR B2224+65
• X-ray analysis of the proper motion and pulsar wind nebula for PSR J1741-2054
• New X-ray observations of the Geminga pulsar wind nebula

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Pulsar Wind Nebulae Created by Fast-Moving Pulsars
• Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths
• On the origin of jet-like features in bow shock pulsar wind nebulae
• Full-3D relativistic MHD simulations of Bow Shock Pulsar Wind Nebulae: dynamics
• Modeling the γ-ray Pulsar Wind Nebulae population in our Galaxy
• HAWC Detection of a TeV Halo Candidate Surrounding a Radio-quiet pulsar
• PSR J2030+4415's Remarkable Bow Shock, PWN and Filament
• From young to old: the evolutionary path of Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• Toward understanding the physical underpinnings of spatial and spectral morphologies of pulsar wind nebulae
• The Long Filament of PSR J2030+4415
• A Search for TeV Gamma-ray Emission from Pulsar Tails by VERITAS
• Discovery of a Pulsar Wind Nebula around B0950+08 with the ELWA
• Observational connection of non-thermal X-ray emission from pulsars with their timing properties and thermal emission
• A high-magnetic-field radio pulsar survey with Swift/XRT