Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Time Variability in the X-Ray Nebula Powered by Pulsar B1509–58

FREE

T. DeLaney1, B. M. Gaensler1,4, J. Arons2 and M. J. Pivovaroff3

Show affiliations


We use new and archival Chandra and ROSAT data to study the time variability of the X-ray emission from the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) powered by PSR B1509-58 on timescales of 1 week to 12 yr. There is variability in the size, number, and brightness of compact knots appearing within 20'' of the pulsar, with at least one knot showing a possible outflow velocity of ~0.6c (assuming a distance to the source of 5.2 kpc). The transient nature of these knots may indicate that they are produced by turbulence in the flows surrounding the pulsar. A previously identified prominent jet extending 12 pc to the southeast of the pulsar increased in brightness by 30% over 9 yr; apparent outflow of material along this jet is observed with a velocity of ~0.5c. However, outflow alone cannot account for the changes in the jet on such short timescales. Magnetohydrodynamic sausage or kink instabilities are feasible explanations for the jet variability, with timescales of ~1.3-2 yr. An arc structure located 30''-45'' north of the pulsar shows transverse structural variations and appears to have moved inward with a velocity of ~0.03c over 3 yr. The overall structure and brightness of the diffuse PWN exterior to this arc and excluding the jet has remained the same over the 12 yr span. The photon indices of the diffuse PWN and possibly the jet steepen with increasing radius, likely indicating synchrotron cooling at X-ray energies.


Subject headings

ISM: individual (G320.4–1.2); ISM: jets and outflows; pulsars: individual (B1509–58); stars: neutron; supernova remnants; X-rays: ISM


Dates

Issue 2 (2006 April 1)

Received 2005 August 1, accepted for publication 2005 November 30



  1. Time Variability in the X-Ray Nebula Powered by Pulsar B1509–58

    T. DeLaney et al. 2006 ApJ 640 929

  2. Shake-off on inner-shell resonances of Ar, Kr and Xe

    P A Heimann et al 1987 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Phys. 20 5005

  3. An evaluation of a novel plastic optical fibre sensor for axial strain and bend measurements

    K S C Kuang et al 2002 Meas. Sci. Technol. 13 1523

  4. How far away is far enough for extracting numerical waveforms, and how much do they depend on the extraction method?

    Enrique Pazos et al 2007 Class. Quantum Grav. 24 S341

  5. Probing the Interstellar Medium near Star-forming Regions with Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Spectroscopy: Gas, Metals, and Dust

    Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2007 ApJ 666 267

  6. The statistical geometry of scale-free random trees

    Luca Donetti and Claudio Destri 2004 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 37 6003

  7. Theory of Extrasolar Giant Planet Transits

    W. B. Hubbard et al. 2001 ApJ 560 413

  8. Asymptotic expansion of the Keesom integral

    Paul C Abbott 2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 8599

  9. The Troublesome Broadband Evolution of GRB 061126: Does a Gray Burst Imply Gray Dust?

    D. A. Perley et al. 2008 ApJ 672 449

  10. Existence of Lanczos potentials and superpotentials for the Weyl spinor/tensor

    Fredrik Andersson and S Brian Edgar 2001 Class. Quantum Grav. 18 2297

Users also read

What's this?
This innovative new feature generates a list of articles 'also read' by other users based on them reading the original article. Article abstracts citations and references are all considered and weighted accordingly. We hope that this will help you find relevant papers for your research.

  1. Chandra Imaging of the X-Ray Nebula Powered by Pulsar B1509–58
  2. Detection of the Energetic Pulsar PSR B1509–58 and its Pulsar Wind Nebula in MSH 15–52 Using the Fermi-Large Area Telescope
  3. The Interstellar Medium around the Supernova Remnant G320.4−1.2
More

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.