Detection of an X-ray Pulsar Wind Nebula and Tail in SNR N157B

Abstract

We report Chandra X-ray observations of the supernova remnant N157B in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which are presented together with an archival HST optical image and a radio continuum map for comparison. This remnant contains the recently discovered 16 ms X-ray pulsar PSR J0537-6910, the most rapidly rotating young pulsar known. Using phase-resolved Chandra imaging, we pinpoint the location of the pulsar to within an uncertainty of less than 1 arcsec. PSR J0537-6910 is not detected in any other wavelength band. The X-ray observations resolve three distinct features: the pulsar itself, a surrounding compact wind nebula which is strongly elongated and a feature of large-scale diffuse emission trailing from the pulsar. This latter comet tail-shaped feature coexists with enhanced radio emission and is oriented nearly perpendicular to the major axis of the pulsar wind nebula. We propose the following scenario to explain these features. The bright, compact nebula is likely powered by a toroidal pulsar wind of relativistic particles which is partially confined by the ram-pressure from the supersonic motion of the pulsar. The particles, after being forced out from the compact nebula (the head of the ``comet''), are eventually dumped into a bubble (the tail), which is primarily responsible for the extended diffuse X-ray and radio emission. The ram-pressure confinement also allows a natural explanation for the observed X-ray luminosity of the compact nebula and for the unusually small X-ray to spin-down luminosity ratio, compared to similarly energetic pulsars. We estimate the pulsar wind Lorentz factor of N157B as about 4 times 10^6 (with an uncertainty of a factor about 2, consistent with that inferred from the modeling of the Crab Nebula.