Probing the Pulsar Wind Nebula of PSR B0355+54

Abstract

We present XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray observations of the middle-aged radio pulsar PSR B0355+54. Our X-ray observations reveal emission not only from the pulsar itself, but also from a compact diffuse component extending ~50'' in the opposite direction to the pulsar's proper motion. There is also evidence for the presence of fainter diffuse emission extending ~5' from the point source. The compact diffuse feature is well-fitted with a power-law, the index of which is consistent with the values found for other pulsar wind nebulae. The morphology of the diffuse component is similar to the ram-pressure confined pulsar wind nebulae detected for other sources. The X-ray emission from the pulsar itself is described well by a thermal plus power-law fit, with the thermal emission most likely originating in a hot polar cap.

9 pages (uses emulateapj.cls), 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (4)

• The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue
• The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue
• Pulsar Parallaxes at 5 GHz with the Very Long Baseline Array
• X-ray spectroscopy of PSR B1951+32 and its pulsar wind nebula

Cited by in corpus (19)

• The gas-to-extinction ratio and the gas distribution in the Galaxy
• Pulsar Wind Nebulae Created by Fast-Moving Pulsars
• Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths
• X-ray Observations of Parsec-Scale Tails behind Two Middle-Aged Pulsars
• A Catalog of Diffuse X-ray-Emitting Features within 20 pc of Sgr A*: Twenty Pulsar Wind Nebulae?
• X-ray emission from PSR J1809-1917 and its pulsar wind nebula, possibly associated with the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1809-193
• PSR J0357+3205: the tail of the turtle
• Chandra Observations of Outflows from PSR J1509-5850
• Discovery of a faint X-ray counterpart and of a parsec-long X-ray tail for the middle-aged, gamma-ray only pulsar PSR J0357+3205
• A closer view of the IGR J11014-6103 outflows
• Deep Chandra Observations of the Pulsar Wind Nebula Created by PSR B0355+54
• New X-ray observations of the Geminga pulsar wind nebula
• A Chandra search for the pulsar wind nebula around PSR B1055-52
• The tale of the two tails of the oldish PSR J2055+2539
• A Search for TeV Gamma-ray Emission from Pulsar Tails by VERITAS
• Non-thermal emissions from outer magnetospheric accelerators of middle-aged pulsars
• The two tails of PSR J2055+2539 as seen by Chandra: analysis of the nebular morphology and pulsar proper motion
• New supernova remnant candidates in the LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey
• Classifying Unidentified Gamma-ray Sources