Two pulsar wind nebulae: Chandra/xmm-newton imaging of GeV J1417-6100

Abstract

We report on Chandra ACIS and XMM-Newton MOS/pn imaging observations of two pulsar wind nebulae (K3/PSR J1420-6048 and G313.3+0.1, the "Rabbit") associated with the Galactic unidentified γ-ray source GeV J1417-6100. With excellent ACIS imaging the very energetic pulsar PSR J1420-6048 is separated from its surrounding nebula. This nebula has surprisingly little compact structure, although a faint arc is seen near the pulsar. Similarly, two point sources are resolved in the Rabbit Nebula. The large XMM-Newton collecting area provides useful spectral constraints on the Rabbit and the associated point sources. Based on spectra and X-ray morphology, we identify one point source as a plausible pulsar counterpart. Large backgrounds and low source counts limited pulse search sensitivities, but we report pulse upper limits and a candidate 108 ms period for the Rabbit Pulsar based on the XMM-Newton data and an ACIS CC observation. Comparison of the X-ray images with high-resolution ATCA radio maps shows that the nonthermal X-ray emission corresponds well with the radio structure. © 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.