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[8.18] PSR B1046-58 and its PWN as seen with Chandra

M. E. Gonzalez, V. M. Kaspi (McGill University), B. Gaensler (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), M. J. Pivovaroff (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

We present the preliminary results from a 36 ks ACIS-S Chandra observation of the Vela-like pulsar B1046--58. Previous ASCA and XMM-Newton observations detected X-ray emission from the pulsar and hinted at the presence of a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) surrounding it. The Chandra observation shows a point source at the radio coordinates of the pulsar and reveals an elongated, ~6''\times10'' nebula surrounding it which we identify as a PWN. The emission from the pulsar and its PWN is faint, with a combined power-law luminosity of ~1\times10³² ergs s^-1 in the 0.5-10.0 keV band (assuming a distance of 3 kpc). The emission from the pulsar dominates below ~2 keV and contributes ~40% of the total counts from the system, while the emission from the PWN dominates above ~2 keV. Imaging analysis reveals a complex and unusual morphology to the PWN, with the pulsar being immediately surrounded by bow-shock-like emission, while clumped emission is seen prominently "behind" the bow but also possibly "ahead" of the bow. This PWN structure discovered with Chandra provides an additional testing site for our understanding of PWN confinement, morphology and emission characteristics.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gonzalez@physics.mcgill.ca

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.