SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

Seth Gagnon

Publications and source records attributed to Seth Gagnon.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Chandra X-ray Observations of the Pulsar Wind Nebula within CTA 1

We present deep Chandra observations of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) powered by PSR J0007+7303 in the composite supernova remnant CTA 1. The merged ACIS image shows a $\sim20''$ jet extending south of the pulsar and bending toward the southwest, a faint counter-jet to the north, and a compact torus oriented approximately perpendicular to the jet axis. Using an archival observation from 2003 we perform relative astrometry over a $\sim20$ yr baseline and constrain the pulsar's transverse velocity to $\lesssim 200~\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$ at the distance of 1.4 kpc at 95% confidence. Spatially resolved spectroscopy shows hard spectra for the jet and torus (photon indicies $\Gamma \approx 1.2-1.4$) and a softer spectrum for the extended nebula ($\Gamma = 1.85 \pm 0.11$), indicating minimal radiative cooling in the compact regions. Modeling of the torus, associated with the termination shock, as an inclined circle yields a viewing angle $\zeta \approx 50^\circ$. The outer gap and two-pole caustic pulsar emission models then imply a moderate magnetic inclination ($\alpha \sim 20^\circ$-$70^\circ$). Broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling from radio to PeV $\gamma$-rays for a one-zone leptonic scenario yields a low magnetic field ($B \approx 1.4$-$3.2~\mu\mathrm{G}$) and a high electron cutoff energy ($E_{\rm cut} \sim 0.2$-$0.3~\mathrm{PeV}$), indicating that the magnetic field decreases rapidly outside of the compact nebula. These results establish CTA 1 as a young, low X-ray efficiency PWN with a hard injection spectrum capable of accelerating particles to PeV energies.

astro-ph.HE

The nature of UHE source 1LHAASO J1740+0948u and its connection to PSR J1740+1000

We present multi-wavelength analysis of 1LHAASO J1740+0948u and its surroundings including the pulsar wind nebula of middle-aged pulsar PSR J1740+1000. Although a dozen X-ray sources are found within the UHE emission site, careful analysis shows that they are unlikely to produce the observed UHE emission. The most likely particle accelerator is pulsar J1740+1000 which if offset by 13' north of the UHE source but appears to be connected to it by an extended feature seen in X-rays. For a plausible pulsar distance of 1.2 kpc, 1LHAASO J1740+0948u must be located about 5 pc away which requires rapid transport of electrons along the feature to avoid radiative losses. This poses several challenges for standard pulsar theory. Firstly, being produced $\lesssim$ 10 kyrs ago, particles must have been accelerated to the energy corresponding to a large fraction of the pulsar's full potential drop across the polar cap. Secondly, due to the lack of TeV emission extension toward the pulsar, particles must be accumulating in the UHE region. In this context, we discuss two possible scenarios: a tail filled with pulsar wind and confined by the bow-shock due to the fast pulsar's motion and an ISM filament filled by the most energetic pulsar wind particles escaping from the apex of the bow-shock.

astro-ph.HE

Chandra X-ray Observations of PSR J1849-0001, its Pulsar Wind Nebula, and the TeV Source HESS J1849-000

We obtained a 108 ks Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) observation of PSR J1849-0001 and its pulsar wind nebula (PWN), coincident with the TeV source HESS J1849-000. By analyzing the new and archival CXO data, we resolved the pulsar from the PWN, explored the PWN morphology on arcsecond and arcminute scales, and measured the spectra of different regions of the PWN. Both the pulsar and the compact inner PWN spectra are hard with power-law photon indices of $1.20 \pm 0.07$ and $1.49 \pm 0.20$, respectively. The jet-dominiated PWN has a relatively low luminosity, lack of gamma-ray pulsations, relatively hard and nonthermal spectrum of the pulsar, and sine-like pulse profile, which indicates a relatively small angle between the pulsar's spin and magnetic dipole axis. In this respect, it shares similar properties with a few other so-called MeV pulsars. Although the joint X-ray and TeV spectral energy distribution can be roughly described by a single-zone model, the obtained magnetic field value is unrealistically low. A more realistic scenario is the presence of a relic PWN, no longer emitting synchrotron X-rays but still radiating in TeV via inverse-Compton upscattering. We calso serendipitously detected surprisingly bright X-ray emission from a very wide binary whose components should not be interacting.

astro-ph.HE