TY - JOUR
T1 - The Eel Pulsar Wind Nebula
T2 - A PeVatron-candidate Origin for HAWC J1826−128 and HESS J1826−130
AU - Burgess, Daniel A.
AU - Mori, Kaya
AU - Gelfand, Joseph D.
AU - Hailey, Charles J.
AU - Tokayer, Yarone M.
AU - Woo, Jooyun
AU - An, Hongjun
AU - Malone, Kelly
AU - Reynolds, Stephen P.
AU - Safi-Harb, Samar
AU - Temim, Tea
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Author(s).
PY - 2022/5/1
Y1 - 2022/5/1
N2 - HAWC J1826−128 is one of the brightest Galactic TeV γ-ray sources detected by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, with photon energies extending up to nearly ∼100 TeV. This HAWC source spatially coincides with the H.E.S.S. TeV source HESS J1826−130 and the “Eel” pulsar wind nebula (PWN), which is associated with the GeV pulsar PSR J1826−1256. In the X-ray band, Chandra and XMM-Newton revealed that the Eel PWN is composed of both a compact nebula (∼15″) and diffuse X-ray emission (∼6′ × 2′) extending away from the pulsar. Our NuSTAR observation detected hard X-ray emission from the compact PWN up to ∼20 keV and evidence of the synchrotron burn-off effect. In addition to the spatial coincidence between HESS J1826−130 and the diffuse X-ray PWN, our multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis using X-ray and γ-ray data establishes a leptonic origin of the TeV emission associated with the Eel PWN. Furthermore, our evolutionary PWN SED model suggests (1) a low PWN B-field of ∼1 μG, (2) a significantly younger pulsar age (t ∼ 5.7 kyr) than the characteristic age (τ = 14.4 kyr), and (3) a maximum electron energy of Emax = 2 PeV. The low B-field, as well as the putative supersonic motion of the pulsar, may account for the asymmetric morphology of the diffuse X-ray emission. Our results suggest that the Eel PWN may be a leptonic PeVatron particle accelerator powered by the ∼6 kyr old pulsar PSR J1826−1256 with a spin-down power of 3.6
AB - HAWC J1826−128 is one of the brightest Galactic TeV γ-ray sources detected by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, with photon energies extending up to nearly ∼100 TeV. This HAWC source spatially coincides with the H.E.S.S. TeV source HESS J1826−130 and the “Eel” pulsar wind nebula (PWN), which is associated with the GeV pulsar PSR J1826−1256. In the X-ray band, Chandra and XMM-Newton revealed that the Eel PWN is composed of both a compact nebula (∼15″) and diffuse X-ray emission (∼6′ × 2′) extending away from the pulsar. Our NuSTAR observation detected hard X-ray emission from the compact PWN up to ∼20 keV and evidence of the synchrotron burn-off effect. In addition to the spatial coincidence between HESS J1826−130 and the diffuse X-ray PWN, our multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis using X-ray and γ-ray data establishes a leptonic origin of the TeV emission associated with the Eel PWN. Furthermore, our evolutionary PWN SED model suggests (1) a low PWN B-field of ∼1 μG, (2) a significantly younger pulsar age (t ∼ 5.7 kyr) than the characteristic age (τ = 14.4 kyr), and (3) a maximum electron energy of Emax = 2 PeV. The low B-field, as well as the putative supersonic motion of the pulsar, may account for the asymmetric morphology of the diffuse X-ray emission. Our results suggest that the Eel PWN may be a leptonic PeVatron particle accelerator powered by the ∼6 kyr old pulsar PSR J1826−1256 with a spin-down power of 3.6
KW - Gamma-ray astronomy (628)
KW - Gamma-ray observatories (632)
KW - Gamma-ray telescopes (634)
KW - High energy astrophysics (739)
KW - Pulsars (1306)
KW - Rotation powered pulsars (1408)
KW - Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: X-ray astronomy (1810)
KW - X-ray telescopes (1825)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131652112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85131652112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ac650a
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ac650a
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85131652112
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 930
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 2
M1 - ac650a
ER -