X-ray Spectra of Young Pulsars and Their Wind Nebulae: Dependence on Spin-down Energy

Details X-ray Spectra of Young Pulsars and Their Wind Nebulae: Dependence on Spin-down Energy X-ray Spectra of Young Pulsars and Their Wind Nebulae: Dependence on Spin-down Energy

2003-03-07

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0303155v1

Astrophys.J. 591 (2003) 361-365

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, LaTex, emulateapj5.sty. To appear in the June 20, 2003 issue of the Astrophysical Journal

Scientific paper

10.1086/375124

An observational model is presented for the spectra of young rotation-powered pulsars and their nebulae based on a study of nine bright Crab-like pulsar systems observed with the Chandra X-ray observatory. A significant correlation is discovered between the X-ray spectra of these pulsars (PSRs) and that of their associated pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe), both of which are observed to be a function of the spin down energy, Edot . The 2 - 10 keV spectra of these objects are well characterized by an absorbed power-law model with photon indices, Gamma, in the range of 0.6 < Gamma_PSR < 2.1 and 1.3 < Gamma_PWN < 2.3, for the pulsars and their nebulae, respectively. A linear regression fit relating these two sets of indexes yields, Gamma_PWN = 0.86 +/- 0.20 + (0.72 +/- 0.13) X Gamma_PSR, with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.96. The spectra of these pulsars are found to steepen as Gamma = Gamma_max + alpha / sqrt(Edot), with Gamma_max providing an observational limit on the spectral slopes of young rotation-powered pulsars. These results reveal basic properties of young pulsar systems, allow new observational constraints on models of pulsar wind emission, and provide a means of predicting the energetics of such systems when lacking detected pulsations.

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