2017/11/20 by Harsha Blumer, Samar Safí-Harb, Samar Safi-Harb +2 · 20 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Magnetar #Nebula #Physics #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Stars #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa9844
published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters 850(1), L18 (IOP Publishing) · Accepted for publication in ApJL
openalex created_date 2017/11/17 · openalex publication_date 2017/11/20 · arxiv created 2017/12/12 · arxiv updated 2017/12/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract We present a Chandra Director’s Discretionary Time observation of PSR J1119–6127 and its compact X-ray pulsar wind nebula (PWN) obtained on 2016 October 27, three months after the Fermi and Swift detection of millisecond bursts in hard X-rays, accompanied by a ≳160 times increase in flux. This magnetar-like activity, the first observed from a rotation-powered radio pulsar, provides an important probe of the physical processes that differentiate radio pulsars from magnetars. The post-burst X-ray spectrum of the pulsar can be described by a single power-law model with a photon index of 2.0 ± 0.2 and an unabsorbed flux of 10 −12 erg cm −2 s −1 in the 0.5–7.0 keV energy range. At the time of Chandra observations, the pulsar was still brighter by a factor of ∼22 in comparison with its quiescence. The X-ray images reveal a nebula brighter than in the pre-burst Chandra observations (from 2002 and 2004), with an unabsorbed flux of 10 −13 erg cm −2 s −1 . This implies a current X-ray efficiency of at a distance of 8.4 kpc. In addition, a faint torus-like structure is visible along the southeast–northwest direction and a jet-like feature perpendicular to the torus toward the southwest. The PWN is best fitted by an absorbed power-law with a photon index of 2.2 ± 0.5 (post-burst). While the pulsar can still be energetically powered by rotation, the observed changes in PSR J1119–6127 and its PWN following the magnetar-like bursts point to an additional source of energy powered by its high magnetic field.