Vela pulsar wind nebula x-rays are polarized to near the synchrotron limit

Abstract

Pulsar wind nebulae are formed when outflows of relativistic electrons and positrons hit the surrounding supernova remnant or interstellar medium at a shock front. The Vela pulsar wind nebula is powered by a young pulsar (B0833-45, age 11 kyr) and located inside an extended structure called Vela X, itself inside the supernova remnant. Previous X-ray observations revealed two prominent arcs, bisected by a jet and counter jet. Radio maps have shown high linear polarization of 60 per cent in the outer regions of the nebula. Here we report X-ray observation of the inner part of the nebula, where polarization can exceed 60 per cent at the leading edge, which approaches the theoretical limit of what can be produced by synchrotron emission. We infer that, in contrast with the case of the supernova remnant, the electrons in the pulsar wind nebula are accelerated with little or no turbulence in a highly uniform magnetic field.

arXiv comment27 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, author's version of the paper accepted for publication in Nature

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• The polarization-angle flip in GRB prompt emission
• A polarized view of the young Pulsar Wind Nebula 3C 58 with IXPE
• Polarized multiwavelength emission from pulsar wind - accretion disk interaction in a transitional millisecond pulsar
• Mitigating Polarization Leakage in Gas Pixel Detectors through Hybrid Machine Learning and Analytic Event Reconstruction
• Spatially resolved polarization variation of the Crab Nebula
• In search of the third dimension in Compton X-ray polarimeters
• Magnetic-field Order in the Southwestern Rim of RCW 86 Constrained Using X-Ray Polarimetry
• Instruments for Focal Plane X-Ray Polarimetry in the Next Decade
• Anisotropy and energy distribution of leptons and photons in radiative relativistic Alfvénic turbulence
• X-Ray Polarization Study of Pulsar Wind Nebulae with eXTP: Simulation Results and Scientific Prospects