The Crab pulsar and its pulsar-wind nebula in the optical and infrared

TL;DR

This study uses optical and infrared imaging to analyze the emission mechanisms, variability, and spectral properties of the Crab pulsar and its nebula, comparing observations with theoretical models.

Contribution

It provides new observational evidence of variability in nebular wisps and confirms the applicability of the Del Zanna et al. (2006) synchrotron emission model.

Findings

Detected variability in nebular wisps over 75 days.

All wisps and the inner knot have red spectra with similar indices.

The inner knot remains stationary over 13.5 years.

Abstract

We investigate the emission mechanism and evolution of pulsars that are associated with supernova remnants. We used imaging techniques in both the optical and near infrared, using images with very good seeing (<0.6) to study the immediate surroundings of the Crab pulsar. In the case of the infrared, we took two data sets with a time window of 75 days, to check for variability in the inner part of the Crab nebula. We also measure the spectral indices of all these wisps, the nearby knot, and the interwisp medium, using our optical and infrared data. We then compared the observational results with the existing theoretical models. We report variability in the three nearby wisps located to the northwest of the pulsar and also in a nearby anvil wisp in terms of their structure, position, and emissivity within the time window of 75 days. All the wisps and the inner knot display red spectra with similar spectral indices. Similarly, the interwisp medium regions also show red spectra similar to those of the wisps. Also, based on archival HST data and our IR data, we find that the inner knot remains stationary for a time period of 13.5 years. The projected average velocity relative to the pulsar for this period is < 8 km/s. By comparing the spectral indices of the structures in the inner Crab with the current theoretical models, we find that the Del Zanna et al. (2006) model for the synchrotron emission fits our observations, although the spectral index is at the flatter end of their modelled spectra.