Vela pulsar wind nebula X-rays are polarized to near the synchrotron limit

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05476-5

. 2022 Dec;612(7941):658-660.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05476-5. Epub 2022 Dec 21.

Vela pulsar wind nebula X-rays are polarized to near the synchrotron limit

Fei Xie^{1

2}, Alessandro Di Marco³, Fabio La Monaca³, Kuan Liu⁴, Fabio Muleri³, Niccolò Bucciantini^{5

6

7}, Roger W Romani^{8

9}, Enrico Costa³, John Rankin³, Paolo Soffitta³, Matteo Bachetti¹⁰, Niccolò Di Lalla^{8

9}, Sergio Fabiani³, Riccardo Ferrazzoli³, Shuichi Gunji¹¹, Luca Latronico¹², Michela Negro^{13

14

15}, Nicola Omodei^{8

9}, Maura Pilia¹⁰, Alessio Trois¹⁰, Eri Watanabe¹¹, Iván Agudo¹⁶, Lucio A Antonelli^{17

18}, Luca Baldini^{19

20}, Wayne H Baumgartner²¹, Ronaldo Bellazzini¹⁹, Stefano Bianchi²², Stephen D Bongiorno²¹, Raffaella Bonino^{12

23}, Alessandro Brez¹⁹, Fiamma Capitanio³, Simone Castellano¹⁹, Elisabetta Cavazzuti²⁴, Stefano Ciprini^{18

25}, Alessandra De Rosa³, Ettore Del Monte³, Laura Di Gesu²⁴, Immacolata Donnarumma²⁴, Victor Doroshenko²⁶, Michal Dovčiak²⁷, Steven R Ehlert²¹, Teruaki Enoto²⁸, Yuri Evangelista³, Javier A Garcia²⁹, Kiyoshi Hayashida³⁰, Jeremy Heyl³¹, Wataru Iwakiri³², Svetlana G Jorstad^{33

34}, Vladimir Karas²⁷, Takao Kitaguchi²⁸, Jeffery J Kolodziejczak²¹, Henric Krawczynski^{35

36}, Ioannis Liodakis³⁷, Simone Maldera¹², Alberto Manfreda¹⁹, Frédéric Marin³⁸, Andrea Marinucci²⁴, Alan P Marscher³³, Herman L Marshall³⁹, Francesco Massaro^{12

23}, Giorgio Matt²², Ikuyuki Mitsuishi⁴⁰, Tsunefumi Mizuno⁴¹, C-Y Ng⁴², Stephen L O'Dell²¹, Chiara Oppedisano¹², Alessandro Papitto¹⁷, George G Pavlov⁴³, Abel L Peirson^{8

9}, Matteo Perri^{17

18}, Melissa Pesce-Rollins¹⁹, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci⁴⁴, Andrea Possenti¹⁰, Juri Poutanen^{45

46}, Simonetta Puccetti²⁴, Brian D Ramsey²¹, Ajay Ratheesh³, Carmelo Sgró¹⁹, Patrick Slane⁴⁷, Gloria Spandre¹⁹, Toru Tamagawa²⁸, Fabrizio Tavecchio⁴⁸, Roberto Taverna⁴⁹, Yuzuru Tawara⁴⁰, Allyn F Tennant²¹, Nicolas E Thomas²¹, Francesco Tombesi⁵⁰, Sergey S Tsygankov^{45

46}, Roberto Turolla^{49

51}, Jacco Vink⁵², Martin C Weisskopf²¹, Kinwah Wu⁵¹, Silvia Zane⁵¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China. xief@gxu.edu.cn.
² INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome, Italy. xief@gxu.edu.cn.
³ INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China.
⁵ INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Florence, Italy.
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence, Italy.
⁷ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Firenze, Florence, Italy.
⁸ Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁹ Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
¹⁰ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
¹¹ Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan.
¹² Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, Torino, Italy.
¹³ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
¹⁴ University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹⁵ Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
¹⁶ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-CSIC, Granada, Spain.
¹⁷ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Monte Porzio Catone (RM), Italy.
¹⁸ Space Science Data Center, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome, Italy.
¹⁹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
²⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
²¹ NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA.
²² Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome, Italy.
²³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy.
²⁴ Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome, Italy.
²⁵ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
²⁶ Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Tübingen, Germany.
²⁷ Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
²⁸ RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, Wako, Japan.
²⁹ California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
³⁰ Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
³¹ University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
³² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan.
³³ Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
³⁴ Laboratory of Observational Astrophysics, St Petersburg University, St Petersburg, Russia.
³⁵ Physics Department, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO, USA.
³⁶ McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO, USA.
³⁷ Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
³⁸ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
³⁹ MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴⁰ Graduate School of Science, Division of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
⁴¹ Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
⁴² Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
⁴³ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
⁴⁴ Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, Grenoble, France.
⁴⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁴⁶ Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
⁴⁷ Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴⁸ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, Italy.
⁴⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy.
⁵⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
⁵¹ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Dorking, UK.
⁵² Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy & GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

PMID: 36543953
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05476-5

Vela pulsar wind nebula X-rays are polarized to near the synchrotron limit

Fei Xie et al. Nature. 2022 Dec.

. 2022 Dec;612(7941):658-660.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05476-5. Epub 2022 Dec 21.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China. xief@gxu.edu.cn.
² INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome, Italy. xief@gxu.edu.cn.
³ INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China.
⁵ INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Florence, Italy.
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence, Italy.
⁷ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Firenze, Florence, Italy.
⁸ Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁹ Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
¹⁰ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
¹¹ Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan.
¹² Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, Torino, Italy.
¹³ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
¹⁴ University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹⁵ Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
¹⁶ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-CSIC, Granada, Spain.
¹⁷ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Monte Porzio Catone (RM), Italy.
¹⁸ Space Science Data Center, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome, Italy.
¹⁹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
²⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
²¹ NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA.
²² Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome, Italy.
²³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy.
²⁴ Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome, Italy.
²⁵ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
²⁶ Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Tübingen, Germany.
²⁷ Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
²⁸ RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, Wako, Japan.
²⁹ California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
³⁰ Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
³¹ University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
³² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan.
³³ Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
³⁴ Laboratory of Observational Astrophysics, St Petersburg University, St Petersburg, Russia.
³⁵ Physics Department, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO, USA.
³⁶ McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO, USA.
³⁷ Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
³⁸ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
³⁹ MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴⁰ Graduate School of Science, Division of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
⁴¹ Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
⁴² Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
⁴³ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
⁴⁴ Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, Grenoble, France.
⁴⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁴⁶ Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
⁴⁷ Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴⁸ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, Italy.
⁴⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy.
⁵⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
⁵¹ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Dorking, UK.
⁵² Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy & GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

PMID: 36543953
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05476-5

Abstract

Pulsar wind nebulae are formed when outflows of relativistic electrons and positrons hit the surrounding supernova remnant or interstellar medium at a shock front. The Vela pulsar wind nebula is powered by a young pulsar (B0833-45, aged 11,000 years)¹ and located inside an extended structure called Vela X, which is itself inside the supernova remnant². Previous X-ray observations revealed two prominent arcs that are bisected by a jet and counter jet^3,4. Radio maps have shown high linear polarization of 60% in the outer regions of the nebula⁵. Here we report an X-ray observation of the inner part of the nebula, where polarization can exceed 60% at the leading edge-approaching the theoretical limit of what can be produced by synchrotron emission. We infer that, in contrast with the case of the supernova remnant, the electrons in the pulsar wind nebula are accelerated with little or no turbulence in a highly uniform magnetic field.

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Comment in

X-rays reveal the magnetic field lighting up a stellar graveyard.
Safi-Harb S. Safi-Harb S. Nature. 2022 Dec;612(7941):641-642. doi: 10.1038/d41586-022-04445-2. Nature. 2022. PMID: 36543948 No abstract available.

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References

1. Caraveo, P. A., De Luca, A., Mignani, R. P. & Bignami, G. F. The distance to the Vela Pulsar gauged with Hubble Space Telescope parallax observations. Astrophys. J. 561, 930–937 (2001). - DOI
1. Slane, P. et al. Investigating the structure of Vela X. Astrophys. J. 865, 86 (2018). - DOI
1. Pavlov, G. G., Kargaltsev, O. Y., Sanwal, D. & Garmire, G. P. Variability of the Vela Pulsar wind nebula observed with Chandra. Astrophys. J. Lett. 554, L189–L192 (2001). - DOI
1. Helfand, D. J., Gotthelf, E. V. & Halpern, J. P. Vela Pulsar and its synchrotron nebula. Astrophys. J. 556, 380–391 (2001). - DOI
1. Dodson, R., Lewis, D., McConnell, D. & Deshpande, A. A. The radio nebula surrounding the Vela pulsar. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 343, 116–124 (2003). - DOI

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[1] Caraveo, P. A., De Luca, A., Mignani, R. P. & Bignami, G. F. The distance to the Vela Pulsar gauged with Hubble Space Telescope parallax observations. Astrophys. J. 561, 930–937 (2001). - DOI

[2] Caraveo, P. A., De Luca, A., Mignani, R. P. & Bignami, G. F. The distance to the Vela Pulsar gauged with Hubble Space Telescope parallax observations. Astrophys. J. 561, 930–937 (2001). - DOI

[3] Slane, P. et al. Investigating the structure of Vela X. Astrophys. J. 865, 86 (2018). - DOI

[4] Slane, P. et al. Investigating the structure of Vela X. Astrophys. J. 865, 86 (2018). - DOI

[5] Pavlov, G. G., Kargaltsev, O. Y., Sanwal, D. & Garmire, G. P. Variability of the Vela Pulsar wind nebula observed with Chandra. Astrophys. J. Lett. 554, L189–L192 (2001). - DOI

[6] Pavlov, G. G., Kargaltsev, O. Y., Sanwal, D. & Garmire, G. P. Variability of the Vela Pulsar wind nebula observed with Chandra. Astrophys. J. Lett. 554, L189–L192 (2001). - DOI

[7] Helfand, D. J., Gotthelf, E. V. & Halpern, J. P. Vela Pulsar and its synchrotron nebula. Astrophys. J. 556, 380–391 (2001). - DOI

[8] Helfand, D. J., Gotthelf, E. V. & Halpern, J. P. Vela Pulsar and its synchrotron nebula. Astrophys. J. 556, 380–391 (2001). - DOI

[9] Dodson, R., Lewis, D., McConnell, D. & Deshpande, A. A. The radio nebula surrounding the Vela pulsar. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 343, 116–124 (2003). - DOI

[10] Dodson, R., Lewis, D., McConnell, D. & Deshpande, A. A. The radio nebula surrounding the Vela pulsar. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 343, 116–124 (2003). - DOI

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Vela pulsar wind nebula X-rays are polarized to near the synchrotron limit

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Vela pulsar wind nebula X-rays are polarized to near the synchrotron limit

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