The source IGR J11014-6103, discovered with INTEGRAL, is powered by an isolated pulsar, which is running through our Galaxy at a speed of ~1000 km/s. Thanks to our observations with the Chandra X-ray satellite and with the Australia Radio Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), we found that this pulsar forms a ~15pc (i.e. 40 light-years) long, ballistic jet. This is the first case where a supersonic runaway pulsar is shown to produce a ballistic jet. This discovery opens up several new questions about the formation of pulsars and how do they produce jets. |
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ABSTRACT
We investigated the nature of the jet-like structure associated with the INTEGRAL source IGR J11014-6103 (the “Lighthouse nebula”). The source is a neutron star escaping its parent SNR MSH 11-61A supersonically at a velocity exceeding 1000 km/s. We observed the Lighthouse nebula and its jet-like X-ray structure through dedicated high spatial resolution observations in X-rays (with Chandra) and in the radio band (with ATCA) to derive its morpholgical and spectral properties, and used a precession model to constrain the jet dynamics.
The analysis of our Chandra and ATCA observations have revealed extreme properties of the Lighthouse nebula. We confirm its association with SNR MSH 11-61A through the X-ray/radio spectral and morphological properties of its elongated pulsar wind nebula. Moreover, our results show that the feature is a true pulsar’s jet. It extends highly collimated over ~15pc, displays a clear precession-like modulation, and propagates nearly perpendicular to the system direction of motion, implying that the neutron star’s spin axis in IGR J11014-6103 is almost perpendicular to the direction of the kick received during the supernova explosion.
Our findings confirm that supersonic runaway pulsars are able to produce large-scale jets. In addition they demonstrate that supernovae can impart high kick velocities to misaligned spinning neutron stars, possibly through distinct, exotic, core-collapse mechanisms.
by Lucia Pavan on 2014-02-07 | >> INTEGRAL science results | >> All science results |