Infrared imaging and polarimetric observations of the pulsar wind nebula in SNR G21.5-0.9

Zajczyk, A.; Gallant, Y. A.; Slane, Patrick; Reynolds, Stephen P.; Bandiera, R.; Gouiffès, C.; Floc’h, E. Le; Comerón, F.; Miramond, L. Koch

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201117194

Cited by 34 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This makes J1124-5916 the fifth identified pulsar, after the Crab (Grasdalen 1979), G21.5-09 (Zajczyk et al 2012), B540-69 (Mignani et al 2012) and 3C 58 (Zyuzin et al, in prep. ), of PWNe that were identified in the near-IR.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…A double-knee break between the optical and X-rays is not excluded either (Serafimovich et al 2005). At the same time, the IR part of the G21.5-09 spectrum is probably almost 3 The data are taken for the Crab from Green et al (2004), Temim et al (2006), Grasdalen (1979), Veron-Cetty & Woltjer (1993), and Kirsch et al (2005); for G21.5-0.9 from Zajczyk et al (2012); for B0540-69.3 from Manchester et al (1993), Williams et al (2008), Mignani et al (2012), and Serafimovich et al (2005); for 3C 58 from Shibanov et al (2008), Shearer & Neustroev (2008), and Slane et al (2008). 4 We indicate in the plot the SNR (870 yr, Bietenholz & Bartel 2008) and spindown (4800 yr, Camilo et al 2006) ages for this PWN.…”

Section: Multiwavelength Spectrum Of the Torus-like Pwnmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 The optical-IR part of the 3C 58 torus spectrum is confirmed by near-UV and near-IR observations (Zyuzin et al, in prep.). flat 7 , implying at least one break between the IR and X-rays (Zajczyk et al 2012). 7 We remeasured the Spitzer fluxes for this PWN and found a good agreement with Zajczyk et al (2012) for all bands except for 24 μm, where our flux of (1.58 ± 0.81) mJy is lower by a factor of 3 than their Comparison of the spatially integrated multiwavelength spectra of the J1124-5916 PWN for the compact PWN torus (lower curves) and for the much more extended plerion (upper curves) obtained with different instruments, as notified in the plot.…”

Section: Multiwavelength Spectrum Of the Torus-like Pwnmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…flat 7 , implying at least one break between the IR and X-rays (Zajczyk et al 2012). 7 We remeasured the Spitzer fluxes for this PWN and found a good agreement with Zajczyk et al (2012) for all bands except for 24 μm, where our flux of (1.58 ± 0.81) mJy is lower by a factor of 3 than their Comparison of the spatially integrated multiwavelength spectra of the J1124-5916 PWN for the compact PWN torus (lower curves) and for the much more extended plerion (upper curves) obtained with different instruments, as notified in the plot. The radio and submillimeter data for the plerion are taken from Gaensler & Wallace (2003) and from the Planck Collaboration (2011), respectively.…”

Section: Multiwavelength Spectrum Of the Torus-like Pwnmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The PSR J1124-5916 wind nebula in the near-infrared

Zharikov

Zyuzin²,

Shibanov

et al. 2013

A&A

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Context. The young radio pulsar J1124-5916 is associated with the Cas A like supernova remnant G292.0+1.8. It powers a compact torus-like pulsar wind nebula with a jet first detected in X-rays and then identified in the optical and mid-infrared. Aims. We carried out deep near-infrared observations of the pulsar field to identify the pulsar and its nebula in this range. Methods. The direct-imaging mode of the NACO adaptive optics instrument at the ESO VLT in the H and K s bands was used.Results. We detected a faint, H = 21.30(10) and K s = 20.45(10), extended elliptical object in both bands, whose center position is consistent with the X-ray position of the pulsar. The morphology of the object and the orientation of its major axis agree well with those observed for the pulsar torus-like nebula in the mid-infrared, optical, and X-rays. This suggests that it is the near-infrared counterpart of the nebula. The measured fluxes compiled with the data in other ranges show a complicated unabsorbed power-law spectrum of the torus-like nebula with several steep breaks between the near-infrared and mid-infrared, the optical and X-rays, and possibly in the mid-infrared. This implies a multiple relativistic particle population responsible for the synchrotron emission of the nebula in different spectral ranges. We have not resolved the pulsar counterpart from its nebula and place only upper limits on its brightness, H ≥ 23.9 and K s ≥ 22.7. Based on that, its contribution to the total near-infrared flux of the pulsar+nebula system is ≤10%, which is comparable with the expected contribution in the optical.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Multiwavelength Spectrum Of the Torus-like Pwnmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Multiwavelength Spectrum Of the Torus-like Pwnmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Multiwavelength Spectrum Of the Torus-like Pwnmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The PSR J1124-5916 wind nebula in the near-infrared

Zharikov

Zyuzin²,

Shibanov

et al. 2013

A&A

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“…Moreover, the Crab and Vela pulsars have been also clearly detected in the mIR by Spitzer (Temim et al 2009;Danilenko et al 2011), with a possible marginal indication of detection also for Geminga (Danilenko et al 2011). A&A 544, A100 (2012) Spitzer also observed PSR J1124−5916 (Zyuzin et al 2009), PSR J0205+6449 (Slane et al 2008), and PSR J1833−1034 (Zajczyk et al 2012) but it could only detect the surrounding pulsar-wind nebulae (PWNe). Spitzer also detected the Crab PWN, which is the only one detected both in the nIR (Sandberg & Sollerman 2009) and in the mIR (Temim et al 2009), together with the PSR J1833−1034 PWN (Zajczyk et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The near-infrared detection of PSR B0540–69 and its nebula

Mignani

Luca

Hummel

et al. 2012

A&A

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Context. The ∼1700 year old PSR B0540−69 in the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC) is considered the twin of the Crab pulsar because of its similar spin parameters, magnetic field, and energetics. PSR B0540−69 (V ∼ 22.5) is also one of the very few pulsars for which both optical pulsations and polarised emission have been measured. Its optical spectrum is fit by a power-law, ascribed to synchrotron radiation, like for the young Crab and Vela pulsars. At variance with them, however, a double break is required to join the X-ray and optical power-law spectra, with the first one possibly occurring in the near ultraviolet (nUV). Aims. Near-infrared (nIR) observations, never performed for PSR B0540−69, are crucial to determine whether the optical power-law spectrum extends to longer wavelengths or a new break occurs, like it happens for both the Crab and Vela pulsars in the mid-infrared (mIR), hinting at an even more complex particle energy and density distribution in the pulsar magnetosphere. Methods. We observed PSR B0540−69 in the J, H, and K S bands with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to detect it, for the first time, in the nIR and characterise its optical-to-nIR spectrum. To disentangle the pulsar emission from that of its pulsar wind nebula (PWN), we obtained high-spatial resolution adaptive optics images with the NAOS-CONICA instrument (NACO). Results. We could clearly identify PSR B0540−69 in our J, H, and K S -band images and measure its flux (J = 20.14, H = 19.33, K S = 18.55, with an overall error of ±0.1 mag in each band). The joint fit to the available optical and nIR photometry with a powerlaw spectrum F ν ∝ ν −α gives a spectral index α = 0.70 ± 0.04, slightly more precise than measured in the optical only. This clearly implies that there is no spectral break between the optical and the nIR. We also detected, for the first time, the PSR B0540−69 PWN in the nIR. The comparison between our NACO images and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical ones does not reveal any apparent difference in the PWN morphology as a function of wavelength. The PWN optical-to-nIR spectrum is also fit by a single power-law, with spectral index α = 0.56 ± 0.03, slightly flatter than the pulsar's. Conclusions. Using NACO at the VLT, we obtained the first detection of PSR B0540−69 and its PWN in the nIR. Due to the small angular scale of the PWN (∼4 ) only the spatial resolution of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will make it possible to extend the study of the pulsar and PWN spectrum towards the mid-IR.

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Pulsar Wind Nebulae

Slane¹

2016

Handbook of Supernovae

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Infrared imaging and polarimetric observations of the pulsar wind nebula in SNR G21.5-0.9

Cited by 34 publications

References 39 publications

The PSR J1124-5916 wind nebula in the near-infrared

The PSR J1124-5916 wind nebula in the near-infrared

The near-infrared detection of PSR B0540–69 and its nebula

Pulsar Wind Nebulae

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