A new nearby PWN overlapping the Vela Jr SNR

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and confirmation of a pulsar wind nebula associated with PSR J0855-4644 near the Vela Jr supernova remnant, providing insights into its distance and potential contribution to cosmic-ray leptons.

Contribution

The study presents the first X-ray detection of the PWN around PSR J0855-4644 and estimates its distance, suggesting a nearby origin and possible influence on cosmic-ray spectra.

Findings

Confirmed the X-ray counterpart of the pulsar and its PWN.

Estimated the pulsar's distance to be less than 900 pc.

Indicated the pulsar's potential contribution to cosmic-ray leptons.

Abstract

PSR J0855-4644 is an energetic pulsar (Edot = 1.1x10^36 erg/s, P=65 ms) discovered near the South-East rim of the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J0852.0-4622 (aka Vela Jr) by the Parkes Multibeam Survey. The position of the pulsar is in spatial coincidence with an enhancement in X-rays and TeV gamma-rays, which could represent its pulsar wind nebula (PWN). We have revealed with an XMM-Newton observation the X-ray counterpart of the pulsar together with a surrounding extended emission thus confirming the suggestion of a PWN. The comparison of the absorption column density derived in X-rays from the pulsar with 12CO observations (tracing the dense gas) is used to derive an upper limit to the distance of the pulsar (d< 900 pc) and to discuss a possible association of the pulsar with the Vela Jr SNR. This new distance estimate implies that the pulsar is nearby and could therefore significantly contribute to the observed spectrum of cosmic-ray leptons (e-/e+).