A NuSTAR and Chandra Investigation of the Misaligned Outflow of PSR J1101-6101 and the Lighthouse Pulsar Wind Nebula

Abstract

PSR J1101-6101 is an energetic young pulsar which powers the remarkable Lighthouse pulsar wind nebula (PWN). The pulsar belongs to the rare type of radio- and gamma-ray-quiet pulsars which are bright in hard X-rays. Moreover, the Lighthouse PWN is remarkable for its misaligned outflow (which gave rise to the PWN's nickname). Also known as "pulsar filaments", these collimated parsec-scale X-ray structures have been recently discovered in the vicinity of a handful of fast-moving pulsars, and appear unaffected by the ram pressure which confines pulsar tails. We report on NuSTAR observations of PSR J1101-6101 and its misaligned outflow -- the first observation of such a structure above ~10 keV. We detect the outflow up to 25 keV, spatially resolve its spectral evolution with distance from the pulsar, find unambiguous evidence of spectral cooling with distance from the pulsar, and infer physical properties of the particles and magnetic field in the outflow. We also reanalzye archival Chandra data and discuss the outflow's small-scale structure. We detect pulsations from PSR J1101-6101 up to 20 keV, present the X-ray pulse profile, confirm its period derivative, and perform phase-resolved spectroscopy. Lastly, we discuss the X-ray source 2CXO J110158.4-605649 = 2XMM J110158.5--605651 (a serendipitously observed blazar) and suggest it may be the X-ray counterpart to the GeV source 4FGL J1102.0--6054.

arXiv comment16 pages, 9 figures, ApJ submitted

References in corpus (45)

• On the Absorption of X-rays in the Interstellar Medium
• The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue
• The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Mission
• Incremental Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog
• Draping of Cluster Magnetic Fields over Bullets and Bubbles -- Morphology and Dynamic Effects
• The observed velocity distribution of young pulsars
• Microarcsecond VLBI pulsar astrometry with PSR$\pi$ II. parallax distances for 57 pulsars
• Magnetic draping of merging cores and radio bubbles in clusters of galaxies
• IACHEC Cross-Calibration of Chandra, NuSTAR, Swift, Suzaku, and XMM-Newton with 3C 273 and PKS 2155-304
• Pulsar-Wind Nebulae: Recent Progress in Observations and Theory
• Pulsar wind nebulae with bow shocks: non-thermal radiation and cosmic ray leptons
• Bow Shocks from Neutron Stars: Scaling Laws and HST Observations of the Guitar Nebula
• Pulsar Wind Nebulae Created by Fast-Moving Pulsars
• Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths
• A Survey for H$\alpha$ Pulsar Bow Shocks
• The long helical jet of the Lighthouse nebula, IGR J11014-6103
• On the X-ray feature associated with the Guitar Nebula
• X-ray Stripes in Tycho's Supernova Remant: Synchrotron Footprints of a Nonlinear Cosmic Ray-driven Instability
• Chandra Observations of Outflows from PSR J1509-5850
• Rings and Jets around PSR J2021+3651: the `Dragonfly Nebula'
• The Pulsar B2224+65 and Its Jets: A Two Epoch X-ray Analysis
• On the origin of jet-like features in bow shock pulsar wind nebulae
• A closer view of the IGR J11014-6103 outflows
• Deep Chandra Observations of the Pulsar Wind Nebula Created by PSR B0355+54
• Kinetic "jets" from fast moving pulsars
• Full-3D relativistic MHD simulations of Bow Shock Pulsar Wind Nebulae: dynamics
• NuSTAR observation of LS 5039
• Full-3D relativistic MHD simulations of bow shock pulsar wind nebulae: emission and polarization
• Is IGR J11014-6103 a Pulsar with the Highest Known Kick Velocity?
• Timing Calibration of the NuSTAR X-ray Telescope
• High resolution HI and radio continuum observations of the SNR G290.1-0.8
• Discovery of X-ray Pulsations from the INTEGRAL Source IGR J11014-6103
• On the nature of radio filaments near the Galactic Center
• PSR J2030+4415's Remarkable Bow Shock, PWN and Filament
• NuSTAR and Chandra Observation of the Galactic Center Non-thermal X-ray Filament G0.13-0.11: A Pulsar Wind Nebula Driven Magnetic Filament
• Timing six energetic rotation-powered X-ray pulsars, including the fast-spinning young PSR J0058-7218 and Big Glitcher PSR J0537-6910
• IGR J11014-6103: a newly discovered pulsar wind nebula?
• Chandra Monitoring of the J1809-1917 Pulsar Wind Nebula and Its Field
• NuSTAR observations of the young, energetic radio pulsar PSR B1509-58
• The tale of the two tails of the oldish PSR J2055+2539
• The Long Filament of PSR J2030+4415
• On the origin of the jet-like radio/X-ray morphology of G290.1-0.8
• Bow-shock Pulsar Wind Nebulae Passing Through Density Discontinuities
• Precise timing and phase-resolved spectroscopy of the young pulsar J1617-5055 with NuSTAR
• G0.173-0.42: an X-ray and radio magnetized filament near the galactic center

Cited by in corpus (5)

• A Catalog of Pulsar X-ray Filaments
• Fast as Potoroo: Radio Continuum Detection of a Bow-Shock Pulsar Wind Nebula Powered by Pulsar J1638-4713
• Fast and "lossless" propagation of relativistic electrons along magnetized non-thermal filaments in galaxy clusters and the Galactic Center region
• IXPE Polarizations of the Lighthouse Pulsar, Trail, and Filament
• Self-confinement of relativistic pair beams in magnetized interstellar plasmas: the case of pulsar X-ray filaments