PSR J0357+3205: a fast moving pulsar with a very unusual X-ray trail
| Autor: | De Luca, A., Mignani, R. P., Marelli, M., Salvetti, D., Sartore, N., Belfiore, A., Parkinson, P. Saz, Caraveo, P. A., Bignami, G. F. |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: | |
| Druh dokumentu: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1088/2041-8205/765/1/L19 |
| Popis: | The middle-aged PSR J0357+3205 is a nearby, radio-quiet, bright gamma-ray pulsar discovered by the Fermi mission. Our previous Chandra observation revealed a huge, very peculiar structure of diffuse X-ray emission, originating at the pulsar position and extending for > 9' on the plane of the sky. To better understand the nature of such a nebula, we have studied the proper motion of the parent pulsar. We performed relative astrometry on Chandra images of the field spanning a time baseline of 2.2 yr, unveiling a significant angular displacement of the pulsar counterpart, corresponding to a proper motion of 0.165"+/-0.030" yr^(-1). At a distance of ~500 pc, the space velocity of the pulsar would be of ~390 km s^(-1) assuming no inclination with respect to the plane of the sky. The direction of the pulsar proper motion is perfectly aligned with the main axis of the X-ray nebula, pointing to a physical, yet elusive link between the nebula and the pulsar space velocity. No optical emission in the H_alpha line is seen in a deep image collected at the Gemini telescope, which implies that the interstellar medium into which the pulsar is moving is fully ionized. Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letters |
| Databáze: | arXiv |
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