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D.-S. Moon (California Institute of Technology), J.-J. Lee (Seoul National University), S. S. Eikenberry (University of Florida), B.-C. Koo (Seoul National University), S. Chatterjee (National Radio Astronomy Observatory), D. L. Kaplna (California Institute of Technology), J. J. Hester (Arizona State University), J. M. Cordes (Cornell University), Y. A. Gallant (Montpellier), L. Koch-Miramond (CEA/Saclay)
The radio pulsar~B1951+32 and the supernova remnant CTB~80 provide a rich laboratory for the study of neutron stars and supernova remnants. Here, we present ground-based optical and near-infrared observations of them, along with X-ray observations with {\em Chandra} and a re-analysis of archival data obtained with the {\em Hubble Space Telescope}. The X-ray observations reveal a cometary pulsar wind nebula which appears to be confined by a bow shock produced by high-velocity motion of the pulsar, making PSR~B1951+32 a rare pulsar exhibiting both an H\alpha bow shock and a shocked X-ray pulsar wind nebula. The distribution of H\alpha and radio continuum emission is indicative of a contact discontinuity of the shocked pulsar winds and shocked ambient medium at ~0.05 pc. On the other hand, the optical synchrotron knot of PSR~B1951+32 likely has a flat spectrum in the optical and near-infrared wavebands, and our astrometry is consistent with only one of the two reported optical counterpart candidates for the pulsar.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.