The Discovery of a Pulsar Wind Nebula Around the Magnetar Candidate AXP 1E1547.0-5408
Abstract
We report the detection of extended emission around the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E1547.0-5408 using archival data of the Chandra X-ray satellite. The extended emission consists of an inner part, with an extent of 45'', and an outer part with an outer radius of 2farcm9, which coincides with a supernova remnant shell previously detected in the radio. We argue that the extended emission in the inner part is the result of a pulsar wind nebula (PWN), which would be the first detected PWN around a magnetar candidate. Its ratio of X-ray luminosity versus pulsar spin-down power is comparable to that of other young PWNe, but its X-ray spectrum is steeper than most PWNe. We discuss the importance of this source in the context of magnetar evolution.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-637X/707/2/L148
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0909.3843
- Bibcode:
- 2009ApJ...707L.148V
- Keywords:
-
- stars: magnetic fields;
- stars: neutron;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- Accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letters (4 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables). This new version has a longer introductory section and an improved discussion on dust scattering