1. A multi-wavelength investigation of PSR J2229+6114 and its pulsar wind nebula in the radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray bands
- Author
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Pope, I., Mori, K., Abdelmaguid, M., Gelfand, J. D., Reynolds, S. P., Safi-Harb, S., Hailey, C. J., An, H., Collaboration, VERITAS, Bangale, P., Batista, P., Benbow, W., Buckley, J. H., Capasso, M., Christiansen, J. L., Chromey, A. J., Falcone, A., Feng, Q., Finley, J. P., Foote, G. M, Gallagher, G., Hanlon, W. F, Hanna, D., Hervet, O., Holder, J., Humensky, T. B., Jin, W., Kaaret, P., Kertzman, M., Kieda, D., Kleiner, T. K., Korzoun, N., Krennrich, F., Kumar, S., Lang, M. J., Maier, G., McGrath, C. E, Mooney, C. L., Moriarty, P., Mukherjee, R., O'Brien, S., Ong, R. A., Park, N., Patel, S. R., Pfrang, K., Pohl, M., Pueschel, E., Quinn, J., Ragan, K., Reynolds, P. T., Roache, E., Sadeh, I., Saha, L., Sembroski, G. H., Tak, D., Tucci, J. V., Weinstein, A., Williams, D. A., and Woo, J.
- Subjects
Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena - Abstract
G106.3$+$2.7, commonly considered a composite supernova remnant (SNR), is characterized by a boomerang-shaped pulsar wind nebula (PWN) and two distinct ("head" & "tail") regions in the radio band. A discovery of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission ($E_\gamma > 100$ GeV) followed by the recent detection of ultra-high-energy (UHE) gamma-ray emission ($E_\gamma > 100$ TeV) from the tail region suggests that G106.3$+$2.7 is a PeVatron candidate. We present a comprehensive multi-wavelength study of the Boomerang PWN (100" around PSR J2229+6114) using archival radio and Chandra data obtained from two decades ago, a new NuSTAR X-ray observation from 2020, and upper limits on gamma-ray fluxes obtained by Fermi and VERITAS observatories. The NuSTAR observation allowed us to detect a 51.67 ms spin period from the pulsar PSR J2229+6114 and the PWN emission characterized by a power-law model with $\Gamma = 1.52\pm0.06$ up to 20 keV. Contrary to the previous radio study by Kothes et al. 2006, we prefer a much lower PWN B-field ($B\sim3$ $\mu$G) and larger distance ($d \sim 8$ kpc) based on (1) the non-varying X-ray flux over the last two decades, (2) the energy-dependent X-ray PWN size resulting from synchrotron burn-off and (3) the multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) data. Our SED model suggests that the PWN is currently re-expanding after being compressed by the SNR reverse shock $\sim 1000$ years ago. In this case, the head region should be formed by GeV--TeV electrons injected earlier by the pulsar propagating into the low density environment.
- Published
- 2023