Indication of a Pulsar Wind Nebula in the Hard X-Ray Emission from SN 1987A
Autor: | Akira Dohi, Shigehiro Nagataki, Fabrizio Bocchino, Barbara Olmi, E. Greco, Salvatore Orlando, Giovanni Peres, Marco Miceli, Masaomi Ono |
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Přispěvatelé: | Greco E., Miceli M., Orlando S., Olmi B., Bocchino F., Nagataki S., Ono M., Dohi A., Peres G., ITA, JPN |
Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Supernova remnants Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena FOS: Physical sciences Synchrotron radiation Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics Compact star X-ray sources 01 natural sciences Pulsar wind nebula Neutron stars X-ray astronomy 0103 physical sciences Plasma astrophysics Ejecta X-ray point sources 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Compact objects X-ray observatories Shocks Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) Physics Astronomy and Astrophysics Neutron star Supernova Interstellar synchrotron emission Space and Planetary Science Neutrino Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
Popis: | Since the day of its explosion, SN 1987A (SN87A) was closely monitored with the aim to study its evolution and to detect its central compact relic. The detection of neutrinos from the supernova strongly supports the formation of a neutron star (NS). However, the constant and fruitless search for this object has led to different hypotheses on its nature. Up to date, the detection in the ALMA data of a feature somehow compatible with the emission arising from a proto Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN) is the only hint of the existence of such elusive compact object. Here we tackle this 33-years old issue by analyzing archived observations of SN87A performed Chandra and NuSTAR in different years. We firmly detect nonthermal emission in the $10-20$ kev energy band, due to synchrotron radiation. The possible physical mechanism powering such emission is twofold: diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) or emission arising from an absorbed PWN. By relating a state-of-the-art magneto-hydrodynamic simulation of SN87A to the actual data, we reconstruct the absorption pattern of the PWN embedded in the remnant and surrounded by cold ejecta. We found that, even though the DSA scenario cannot be firmly excluded, the most likely scenario that well explains the data is the PWN emission. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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