128 research outputs found
X-ray analysis of the proper motion and pulsar wind nebula for PSR J1741-2054
We obtained six observations of PSR J1741-2054 using the ACIS-S
detector totaling 300 ks. By registering this new epoch of observations
to an archival observation taken 3.2 years earlier using X-ray point sources in
the field of view, we have measured the pulsar proper motion at in a direction consistent with the symmetry axis of the
observed H nebula. We investigated the inferred past trajectory of the
pulsar but find no compelling association with OB associations in which the
progenitor may have originated. We confirm previous measurements of the pulsar
spectrum as an absorbed power law with photon index =2.680.04,
plus a blackbody with an emission radius of (4.5 km,
for a DM-estimated distance of kpc and a temperature of
eV. Emission from the compact nebula is well described by an
absorbed power law model with a photon index of = 1.670.06, while
the diffuse emission seen as a trail extending northeast of the pulsar shows no
evidence of synchrotron cooling. We also applied image deconvolution techniques
to search for small-scale structures in the immediate vicinity of the pulsar,
but found no conclusive evidence for such structures.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 4 Tables; Accepted by Ap
High Spatial Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy of the IC443 Pulsar Wind Nebula and Environs
Deep Chandra ACIS observations of the region around the putative pulsar, CXOU
J061705.3+222127, in the supernova remnant IC443 reveal an
~5-radius ring-like structure surrounding the pulsar and a
jet-like feature oriented roughly north-south across the ring and through the
pulsar's location at 06175.200
+222127.52 (J2000.0 coordinates). The
observations further confirm that (1) the spectrum and flux of the central
object are consistent with a rotation-powered pulsar, (2) the non-thermal
spectrum and morphology of the surrounding nebula are consistent with a pulsar
wind and, (3) the spectrum at greater distances is consistent with thermal
emission from the supernova remnant. The cometary shape of the nebula,
suggesting motion towards the southwest, appears to be subsonic: There is no
evidence either spectrally or morphologically for a bow shock or contact
discontinuity; the nearly circular ring is not distorted by motion through the
ambient medium; and the shape near the apex of the nebula is narrow. Comparing
this observation with previous observations of the same target, we set a 99%
confidence upper limit to the proper motion of CXOU J061705.3+222127 to be less
than 44 mas/yr (310 km/s for a distance of 1.5 kpc), with the best-fit (but not
statistically significant) projected direction toward the west.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Chandra X-Ray Observatory observations of the globular cluster M28 and its millisecond pulsar B1821-24
We report here the results of the first Chandra X-Ray Observatory
observations of the globular cluster M28 (NGC 6626). 46 X-ray sources are
detected, of which 12 lie within one core radius of the center. We show that
the apparently extended X-ray core emission seen with the ROSAT HRI is due to
the superposition of multiple discrete sources for which we determine the X-ray
luminosity function down to a limit of about 6xE30 erg/s. For the first time
the unconfused phase-averaged X-ray spectrum of the 3.05-ms pulsar B1821--24 is
measured and found to be best described by a power law with photon index ~ 1.2.
Marginal evidence of an emission line centered at 3.3 keV in the pulsar
spectrum is found, which could be interpreted as cyclotron emission from a
corona above the pulsar's polar cap if the the magnetic field is strongly
different from a centered dipole. The unabsorbed pulsar flux in the 0.5--8.0
keV band is ~3.5xE-13 ergs/s/cm^2. Spectral analysis of the 5 brightest
unidentified sources is presented. Based on the spectral parameters of the
brightest of these sources, we suggest that it is a transiently accreting
neutron star in a low-mass X-ray binary, in quiescence. Fitting its spectrum
with a hydrogen neutron star atmosphere model yields the effective temperature
T_eff^\infty = 90^{+30}_{-10} eV and the radius R_NS^\infty =
14.5^{+6.9}_{-3.8} km. In addition to the resolved sources, we detect fainter,
unresolved X-ray emission from the central core of M28. Using the
Chandra-derived positions, we also report on the result of searching archival
Hubble Space Telescope data for possible optical counterparts.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 22 pages, 8 figures, 5 table
XIPE: the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer
X-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and
temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical
phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the
acceleration process, for example, including those typical of magnetic
reconnection in solar flares, but also emission in the strong magnetic fields
of neutron stars and white dwarfs. It detects scattering in asymmetric
structures such as accretion disks and columns, and in the so-called molecular
torus and ionization cones. In addition, it allows fundamental physics in
regimes of gravity and of magnetic field intensity not accessible to
experiments on the Earth to be probed. Finally, models that describe
fundamental interactions (e.g. quantum gravity and the extension of the
Standard Model) can be tested. We describe in this paper the X-ray Imaging
Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), proposed in June 2012 to the first ESA call for a
small mission with a launch in 2017 but not selected. XIPE is composed of two
out of the three existing JET-X telescopes with two Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD)
filled with a He-DME mixture at their focus and two additional GPDs filled with
pressurized Ar-DME facing the sun. The Minimum Detectable Polarization is 14 %
at 1 mCrab in 10E5 s (2-10 keV) and 0.6 % for an X10 class flare. The Half
Energy Width, measured at PANTER X-ray test facility (MPE, Germany) with JET-X
optics is 24 arcsec. XIPE takes advantage of a low-earth equatorial orbit with
Malindi as down-link station and of a Mission Operation Center (MOC) at INPE
(Brazil).Comment: 49 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables. Paper published in Experimental
Astronomy http://link.springer.com/journal/1068
The Ultra-Fast Outflow of the Quasar PG 1211+143 as Viewed by Time-Averaged Chandra Grating Spectroscopy
This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article published in The Astrophysical Journal. The Version of Record is available online at https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaa427We present a detailed X-ray spectral study of the quasar PG 1211+143 based on Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) observations collected in a multi-wavelength campaign with UV data using the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (HST-COS) and radio bands using the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). We constructed a multi-wavelength ionizing spectral energy distribution using these observations and archival infrared data to create xstar photoionization models specific to the PG 1211+143 flux behavior during the epoch of our observations. Our analysis of the Chandra-HETGS spectra yields complex absorption lines from H-like and He-like ions of Ne, Mg, and Si, which confirm the presence of an ultra-fast outflow (UFO) with a velocity of approximately -17,300 km s -1 (outflow redshift z out ∼ -0.0561) in the rest frame of PG 1211+143. This absorber is well described by an ionization parameter and column density. This corresponds to a stable region of the absorber's thermal stability curve, and furthermore its implied neutral hydrogen column is broadly consistent with a broad Lyα absorption line at a mean outflow velocity of approximately -16,980 km s -1 detected by our HST-COS observations. Our findings represent the first simultaneous detection of a UFO in both X-ray and UV observations. Our VLA observations provide evidence for an active jet in PG 1211+143, which may be connected to the X-ray and UV outflows; this possibility can be evaluated using very-long-baseline interferometric observations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
Polarized blazar X-rays imply particle acceleration in shocks
Most of the light from blazars, active galactic nuclei with jets of magnetized plasma that point nearly along the line of sight, is produced by high-energy particles, up to around 1 TeV. Although the jets are known to be ultimately powered by a supermassive black hole, how the particles are accelerated to such high energies has been an unanswered question. The process must be related to the magnetic field, which can be probed by observations of the polarization of light from the jets. Measurements of the radio to optical polarization—the only range available until now—probe extended regions of the jet containing particles that left the acceleration site days to years earlier1,2,3, and hence do not directly explore the acceleration mechanism, as could X-ray measurements. Here we report the detection of X-ray polarization from the blazar Markarian 501 (Mrk 501). We measure an X-ray linear polarization degree ΠX of around 10%, which is a factor of around 2 higher than the value at optical wavelengths, with a polarization angle parallel to the radio jet. This points to a shock front as the source of particle acceleration and also implies that the plasma becomes increasingly turbulent with distance from the shock
A polarimetrically oriented X-ray stare at the accreting pulsar EXO 2030+375
Accreting X-ray pulsars (XRPs) are presumably ideal targets for polarization
measurements, as their high magnetic field strength is expected to polarize the
emission up to a polarization degree of ~80%. However, such expectations are
being challenged by recent observations of XRPs with the Imaging X-ray
Polarimeter Explorer (IXPE). Here we report on the results of yet another XRP,
EXO 2030+375, observed with IXPE and contemporarily monitored with Insight-HXMT
and SRG/ART-XC. In line with recent results obtained with IXPE for similar
sources, analysis of the EXO 2030+375 data returns a low polarization degree of
0%-3% in the phase-averaged study and variation in the range 2%-7% in the
phase-resolved study. Using the rotating vector model we constrain the geometry
of the system and obtain a value for the magnetic obliquity of ~.
Considering also the estimated pulsar inclination of ~, this
indicates that the magnetic axis swings close to the observer line of sight.
Our joint polarimetric, spectral and timing analysis hint to a complex
accreting geometry where magnetic multipoles with asymmetric topology and
gravitational light bending significantly affect the observed source behavior.Comment: A&A accepted. Proofs versio
X-ray polarimetry of the accreting pulsar GX 301-2
The phase- and energy-resolved polarization measurements of accreting X-ray
pulsars (XRPs) allow us to test different theoretical models of their emission,
as well as to provide an avenue to determine the emission region geometry. We
present the results of the observations of the XRP GX 301-2 performed with the
Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). GX 301-2 is a persistent XRP with
one of the longest known spin periods of ~680 s. A massive hyper-giant
companion star Wray 977 supplies mass to the neutron star via powerful stellar
winds. We do not detect significant polarization in the phase-averaged data
using spectro-polarimetric analysis, with the upper limit on the polarization
degree (PD) of 2.3% (99% confidence level). Using the phase-resolved
spectro-polarimetric analysis we get a significant detection of polarization
(above 99% c.l.) in two out of nine phase bins and marginal detection in three
bins, with a PD ranging between ~3% and ~10%, and a polarization angle varying
in a very wide range from ~0 deg to ~160 deg. Using the rotating vector model
we obtain constraints on the pulsar geometry using both phase-binned and
unbinned analysis getting excellent agreement. Finally, we discuss possible
reasons for a low observed polarization in GX 301-2.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitted to A&
IXPE Observations of the Quintessential Wind-accreting X-Ray Pulsar Vela X-1
The radiation from accreting X-ray pulsars was expected to be highly polarized, with some estimates for the polarization degree of up to 80%. However, phase-resolved and energy-resolved polarimetry of X-ray pulsars is required in order to test different models and to shed light on the emission processes and the geometry of the emission region. Here we present the first results of the observations of the accreting X-ray pulsar Vela X-1 performed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Vela X-1 is considered to be the archetypal example of a wind-accreting, high-mass X-ray binary system, consisting of a highly magnetized neutron star accreting matter from its supergiant stellar companion. The spectropolarimetric analysis of the phase-averaged data for Vela X-1 reveals a polarization degree (PD) of 2.3% ± 0.4% at the polarization angle (PA) of −47.°3 ± 5.°4. A low PD is consistent with the results obtained for other X-ray pulsars and is likely related to the inverse temperature structure of the neutron star atmosphere. The energy-resolved analysis shows the PD above 5 keV reaching 6%–10% and a ∼90° difference in the PA compared to the data in the 2–3 keV range. The phase-resolved spectropolarimetric analysis finds a PD in the range 0%–9% with the PA varying between −80° and 40°
- …