Deciphering the nature of the pulsar wind nebula CTB 87 with XMM-Newton
Date Issued
2020
Author(s)
Guest, B.
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Safi-Harb, S.
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MacMaster, A.
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Kothes, R.
•
•
•
•
Arzoumanian, Z.
Abstract
CTB 87 (G74.9+1.2) is an evolved supernova remnant (SNR) which hosts a peculiar pulsar wind nebula (PWN). The X-ray peak is offset from that observed in radio and lies towards the edge of the radio nebula. The putative pulsar, CXOU J201609.2+371110, was first resolved with Chandra and is surrounded by a compact and a more extended X-ray nebula. Here, we use a deep XMM-Newton observation to examine the morphology and evolutionary stage of the PWN and to search for thermal emission expected from a supernova shell or reverse shock interaction with supernova ejecta. We do not find evidence of thermal X-ray emission from the SNR and place an upper limit on the electron density of 0.05 cm-3 for a plasma temperature kT ∼ 0.8 keV. The morphology and spectral properties are consistent with a ∼20-kyr-old relic PWN expanding into a stellar wind-blown bubble. We also present the first X-ray spectral index map from the PWN and show that we can reproduce its morphology by means of 2D axisymmetric relativistic hydrodynamical simulations.
Volume
491
Issue
2
Start page
3013
Issn Identifier
0035-8711
Ads BibCode
2020MNRAS.491.3013G
Rights
open.access
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