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The Mouse That Soared: High Resolution X-ray Imaging of the Pulsar-powered Bow Shock G359.23–0.82
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Waluw, E. Van Der S. Amilo, F. Ernando C. Aspi, V. M. K. |
| Copyright Year | 2003 |
| Abstract | We present an observation with the Chandra X-ray Observatory of the unusual radio source G359.23–0.82 (“the Mouse”), along with updated radio timing data from the Parkes radio telescope on the coincident young pulsar J1747–2958. We find that G359.23–0.82 is a very lumino us X-ray source ( LX [0.5− 8.0 keV] = 5× 1034 ergs s−1 for a distance of 5 kpc), whose morphology consists of a brigh t head coincident with PSR J1747– 2958, plus a 45 -long narrow tail whose power-law spectrum steepens with di stance from the pulsar. We thus confirm that G359.23–0.82 is a bow-shock pulsar wind neb ula powered by PSR J1747–2958; the nebular stand-off distance implies that the pulsar is moving with a M ch number of ∼ 60, suggesting a space velocity ≈ 600 km s−1 through gas of density≈ 0.3 cm−3. We combine the theory of ion-dominated pulsar winds with hydrodynamic simulations of pulsar bow shocks to show t hat a bright elongated X-ray and radio feature extending 10 behind the pulsar represents the surface of the wind termina tion shock. The X-ray and radio “trails” seen in other pulsar bow shocks may similarly repre sent the surface of the termination shock, rather than particles in the postshock flow as is usually argued. The tail of the Mouse contains two components: a relatively broad region seen only at radio wavelengths, and a arrow region seen in both radio and X-rays. We propose that the former represents material flowing from the wind shock ahead of the pulsar’s motion, while the latter corresponds to more weakly magnetized material stre aming from the backward termination shock. This study represents the first consistent attempt to apply our un derstanding of “Crab-like” nebulae to the growing group of bow shocks around high-velocity pulsars. Subject headings: ISM: individual: (G359.23–0.82) — pulsars: individual (J1 747–2958) — stars: neutron — stars: winds, outflows |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0312362v1.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0312362v2.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
