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High-Energy X-Ray Imaging of the Pulsar Wind Nebula MSH 15-52: Constraints on Particle Acceleration and TransportWe present the first images of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) MSH 15−52 in the hard X-ray band (8 keV), as measured with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). Overall, the morphology of the PWN as measured by NuSTAR in the 3-7 keV band is similar to that seen in Chandra high-resolution imaging. However, the spatial extent decreases with energy, which we attribute to synchrotron energy losses as the particles move away from the shock. The hard-band maps show a relative deficit of counts in the northern region toward the RCW 89 thermal remnant, with significant asymmetry. We find that the integrated PWN spectra measured with NuSTAR and Chandra suggest that there is a spectral break at 6 keV, which may be explained by a break in the synchrotron emitting electron distribution at approximately 200 TeV and/or imperfect cross calibration. We also measure spatially resolved spectra, showing that the spectrum of the PWN softens away from the central pulsar B1509−58, and that there exists a roughly sinusoidal variation of spectral hardness in the azimuthal direction. We discuss the results using particle flow models. We find non-monotonic structure in the variation with distance of spectral hardness within 50 of the pulsar moving in the jet direction, which may imply particle and magnetic-field compression by magnetic hoop stress as previously suggested for this source. We also present two-dimensional maps of spectral parameters and find an interesting shell-like structure in the N(sub H) map. We discuss possible origins of the shell-like structure and their implications.
Document ID
20150023328
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
An, Hongjun
(McGill Univ. Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Madsen, Kristin K.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Reynolds, Stephen P.
(North Carolina State Univ. Raleigh, NC, United States)
Kaspi, Victoria M.
(McGill Univ. Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Harrison, Fiona A.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Boggs, Steven E.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Christensen, Finn E.
(Technical Univ. of Denmark Lyngby, Denmark)
Craig, William W.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Fryer, Chris L.
(Los Alamos National Lab. NM, United States)
Grefenstette, Brian W.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Zhang, William W.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
December 18, 2015
Publication Date
October 1, 2014
Publication Information
Publication: The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Volume: 793
Issue: 2
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN23271
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG08FD60C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
individual objects: G320.4-1.2
ISM: supernova remnants
X-rays: ISM
ISM: jets and outflows
stars: neutron
pulsars: individual: PSR B1509-58

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