Search for the elusive optical counterpart of PSR J0537–6910
with the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys

Mignani, Roberto; Pulone, L.; Iannicola, G.; Pavlov, G. G.; Townsley, L. K.; Kargaltsev, Oleg

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041781

Cited by 15 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…6; no evidence is found for any significant pileup, based on the model given by Davis 2001 Mignani et al (2005). The power-law index is also consistent with that measured for the pulsed X-ray emission from the pulsar ($1:6 þ0:4 À0:3 ) based on the ASCA and Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE ) spectra (Marshall et al 1998).…”

Section: Psr J0537à6910supporting

confidence: 77%

“…This morphology is reminiscent of those associated with trailing plerions in SNRs G327.1À1.1 (Sun et al 1999), W44 ( Frail et al 1996), and IC 443 (Olbert et al 2001;Gaensler et al 2006), as well as the PWN around PSR B1757À24 near SNR G5.4À1.2 (the Duck X-ray Nebula; Kaspi et al 2001). Using a Chandra HRC observation with high angular and timing resolutions, Wang et al (2001) were able to pinpoint (to arcsecond precision) the location of PSR J0537À6910, which is still undetected in any other wavelength band (e.g., Mignani et al 2005;Crawford et al 2005). The nebula was shown to consist primarily of a $0:6 pc ; 1:7 pc compact barlike feature around the pulsar and a tail k5 pc long.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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ChandraACIS Spectroscopy of N157B: A Young Composite Supernova Remnant in a Superbubble

Chen

Wang

Gotthelf

et al. 2006

ApJ

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We present a Chandra ACIS observations of N157B, a young supernova remnant (SNR) located in the 30 Doradus star formation region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This remnant contains the most energetic pulsar known (PSR J053747.39À691020.2;Ė ¼ 4:8 ; 10 38 ergs s À1 ), which is surrounded by a X-ray-bright nonthermal nebula that likely represents a toroidal pulsar wind terminal shock observed edge-on. Two of the eight pointlike X-ray sources detected in the observation are shown to have near-IR and optical counterparts (within 0B5 offsets), which are identified as massive stellar systems in the Cloud. We confirm the nonthermal nature of the comet-shaped X-ray emission feature and show that the spectral steepening of this feature away from the pulsar is quantitatively consistent with synchrotron cooling of shocked pulsar wind particles flowing downstream at a bulk velocity close to the speed of light. Around the cometary nebula we unambiguously detect a spatially resolved thermal component, which accounts for about 1/3 of the total 0.5-10 keV flux from the remnant. This thermal component is distributed among various clumps of metal-enriched plasma embedded in the low surface brightness X-ray-emitting diffuse gas. The relative metal enrichment pattern suggests that the mass of the supernova progenitor is k20 M . A comparison of the X-ray data with Hubble Space Telescope optical images now suggests that the explosion site is close to a dense cloud, against which a reflection shock is launched. The interaction between the reflected material and the nebula has likely produced both its cometary shape and the surrounding thermal emission enhancement. SNR N157B is apparently expanding into the hot low-density interior of the surrounding superbubble formed by the young OB association LH 99, as revealed by Spitzer mid-infrared images. This scenario naturally explains the exceptionally large sizes of both the thermal and nonthermal components, as well as the lack of an outer shell of the SNR. However, the real situation in the region is likely to be more complicated. We find that a partially round soft X-ray-emitting clump with distinct spectral properties may result from a separate oxygen-rich remnant. These results provide a rare glimpse into the SNR structure and evolution in a region of recent star formation.

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Section: Psr J0537à6910supporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ChandraACIS Spectroscopy of N157B: A Young Composite Supernova Remnant in a Superbubble

Chen

Wang

Gotthelf

et al. 2006

ApJ

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“…015 accuracy (Skrutskie et al 2006). As discussed in Mignani et al (2005), 2MASS is preferred to the Guide Star Catalogue 2.3 (GSC-2.3; Lasket et al 2008) and to the US National Observatory B1.0 catalogue (USNO-B1.0; Monet et al 2003) for fields in the LMC. On the other hand, both the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalogue 2 (UCAC-2; Zacharias et al 2004) and its update UCAC-3 (Zacharias et al 2009) only provide a sparse astrometric grid in the mosaic WFPC2 field-of-view.…”

Section: Astrometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

HST/WFPC2 observations of the LMC pulsar PSR B0540–69

Mignani¹,

Sartori

Luca

et al. 2010

A&A

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Context. The study of the younger, and brighter, pulsars is important for understanding the optical emission properties of isolated neutron stars through observations which, even in the 10 m-class telescope era, are much more challenging for older and fainter objects. PSR B0540−69, the second brightest (V ∼ 22) optical pulsar, is obviously a primary target for these investigations. Aims. The aims of this work are several: (i) constraining the pulsar proper motion and its velocity on the plane of the sky and improving the determination of the pulsar coordinates through optical astrometry; (ii) obtaining a more precise characterisation of the pulsar optical spectral energy distribution (SED) through a consistent set of multi-band, high-resolution, imaging photometry observations and studying the relation with the X-ray spectrum, including the presence of a spectral turnover between the two bands. Last, we aim at (iii) measuring the pulsar optical phase-averaged linear polarisation, for which only a preliminary and uncertain measurement has been obtained so far from ground-based observations, and at testing the predictions of different neutron star magnetosphere models. Methods. We performed high-resolution observations of PSR B0540−69 with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), in both direct imaging and polarimetry modes. Results. From multi-epoch astrometry we set a 3σ upper limit of 1 mas yr −1 on the pulsar proper motion, implying a transverse velocity <250 km s −1 at the 50 kpc LMC distance. Moreover, we determined the pulsar absolute position with an unprecedented accuracy of 70 mas. From multi-band photometry we characterised the pulsar power-law spectrum and derived the most accurate measurement of the spectral index (α O = 0.70 ± 0.07), which indicates a spectral turnover between the optical and X-ray bands. Finally, from polarimetry we obtained a new measurement of the pulsar phase-averaged polarisation degree (PD = 16% ± 4%), consistent with magnetosphere models, depending on the actual intrinsic polarisation degree and depolarisation factor, and we found that the polarisation vector (22• ± 12• position angle) is possibly aligned with the semi-major axis of the pulsar-wind nebula and with the apparent proper motion direction of its bright emission knot. Conclusions. Deeper studies with the HST can only be possible with the refurbished Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and with the new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

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“…The assumption of solar abundance for the absorbing material may be significantly in error, as most of the absorption is thought to be local to the 30 Dor nebula ( Norci & Ö gelman 1995). Mignani et al (2005) note, as part of their spectral fitting to ACIS data of PSR J0537À6910 in N157B, that reducing the abundance of the absorbing material to 0.4 Z doubles the resulting N H . We caution the reader that this systematic underestimate of N H due to our assumption of solar abundances for the intervening material pertains to all of our fitting results.…”

Section: X-ray Spectroscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

AChandraACIS Study of 30 Doradus. II. X-Ray Point Sources in the Massive Star Cluster R136 and Beyond

Townsley¹,

Broos²,

Feigelson³

et al. 2006

118

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We have studied the X-ray point-source population of the 30 Doradus (30 Dor) star-forming complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud using high spatial resolution X-ray images and spatially resolved spectra obtained with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Here we describe the X-ray sources in a 17 0 ; 17 0 field centered on R136, the massive star cluster at the center of the main 30 Dor nebula. We detect 20 of the 32 Wolf-Rayet stars in the ACIS field. The cluster R136 is resolved at the subarcsecond level into almost 100 X-ray sources, including many typical O3-O5 stars, as well as a few bright X-ray sources previously reported. Over 2 orders of magnitude of scatter in L X is seen among R136 O stars, suggesting that X-ray emission in the most massive stars depends critically on the details of wind properties and the binarity of each system, rather than reflecting the widely reported characteristic value L X /L bol ' 10 À7 . Such a canonical ratio may exist for single massive stars in R136, but our data are too shallow to confirm this relationship. Through this and future X-ray studies of 30 Dor, the complete life cycle of a massive stellar cluster can be revealed.

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Search for the elusive optical counterpart of PSR J0537–6910 with the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys

Cited by 15 publications

References 19 publications

ChandraACIS Spectroscopy of N157B: A Young Composite Supernova Remnant in a Superbubble

ChandraACIS Spectroscopy of N157B: A Young Composite Supernova Remnant in a Superbubble

HST/WFPC2 observations of the LMC pulsar PSR B0540–69

AChandraACIS Study of 30 Doradus. II. X-Ray Point Sources in the Massive Star Cluster R136 and Beyond

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