Deciphering the Nature of the Pulsar Wind Nebula CTB 87 with XMM-Newton

Abstract

CTB 87 (G74.9+1.2) is an evolved supernova remnant (SNR) which hosts a peculiar pulsar wind nebula (PWN). The X-ray peak is offset from that observed in radio and lies towards the edge of the radio nebula. The putative pulsar, CXOU~J201609.2+371110, was first resolved with \textit{Chandra} and is surrounded by a compact and a more extended X-ray nebula. Here we use a deep {\textit{XMM-Newton}} observation to examine the morphology and evolutionary stage of the PWN and to search for thermal emission expected from a supernova shell or reverse shock interaction with supernova ejecta. We do not find evidence of thermal X-ray emission from the SNR and place an upper limit on the electron density of 0.05~cm${}^{-3}$ for a plasma temperature $kT\sim 0.8$ keV. The morphology and spectral properties are consistent with a $\sim$20~kyr-old relic PWN expanding into a stellar wind-blown bubble. We also present the first X-ray spectral index map from the PWN and show that we can reproduce its morphology by means of 2D axisymmetric relativistic hydrodynamical simulations.

9 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• A Radio Continuum and Polarisation Study of the pulsar wind nebula CTB87 (G74.9+1.2)
• Magnetic Field Structure and Faraday Rotation of the Plerionic Supernova Remnant G21.5$-$0.9
• Extended radio halo of the supernova remnant CTB87 (G74.9+1.2)
• The Eel Pulsar Wind Nebula: a PeVatron-Candidate Origin for HAWC J1826-128 and HESS J1826-130