2001/10/31 by B. M. Gaensler, J. Arons, Jonathan Arons +5 · 13 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Line-of-sight #Nebula #Physics #Pulsar #Pulsar wind nebula #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Stars #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/339354
22 pages, including 9 embedded EPS figures, uses emulateapj. Now incorporates referee's comments - no major changes. To appear in The Astrophysical Journal, vol 569 (2002 April 20)
arxiv created 2001/12/28 · openalex publication_date 2002/04/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present observations with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) powered by the energetic young pulsar B1509-58. These data confirm the complicated morphology of the system indicated by previous observations, and in addition reveal several new components to the nebula. The overall PWN shows a clear symmetry axis oriented at a position angle 150° ± 5° (north through east), which we argue corresponds to the pulsar spin axis. We show that a previously identified radio feature matches well with the overall extent of the X-ray PWN, and propose the former as the long-sought radio nebula powered by the pulsar. We further identify a bright collimated feature, at least 4' long, lying along the nebula's main symmetry axis; we interpret this feature as a physical outflow from the pulsar, and infer a velocity for this jet of greater than 0.2 c . The lack of any observed counterjet implies that the pulsar spin axis is inclined at ~30° to the line of sight, contrary to previous estimates made from lower resolution data. We also identify a variety of compact features close to the pulsar. A pair of semicircular X-ray arcs lie 17'' and 30'' to the north of the pulsar; the latter arc shows a highly polarized radio counterpart. We show that these features can be interpreted as ion-compression wisps in a particle-dominated equatorial flow, and use their properties to infer a ratio of electromagnetic to particle energy in pairs at the wind shock σ ~ 0.005, similar to that seen in the Crab Nebula. We further identify several compact knots seen very close to the pulsar; we use these to infer σ < 0.003 at a separation from the pulsar of 0.1 pc.