X-ray investigation of the diffuse emission around plausible gamma-ray emitting pulsar wind nebulae in Kookaburra region

TL;DR

This study uses Suzaku X-ray observations to analyze diffuse emission around pulsars in the Kookaburra region, supporting their identification as pulsar wind nebulae with specific magnetic field estimates.

Contribution

First detailed X-ray analysis of diffuse emission around pulsars in Kookaburra, linking TeV gamma-ray sources to pulsar wind nebulae with magnetic field estimates.

Findings

Diffuse X-ray emission aligns with gamma-ray sources.

Spectral softening with distance from X-ray peaks.

Estimated magnetic fields of 2.5-3 μG for the nebulae.

Abstract

We report on the results from {\it Suzaku} X-ray observations of the radio complex region called Kookaburra, which includes two adjacent TeV $\gamma$-ray sources HESS J1418-609 and HESS J1420-607. The {\it Suzaku} observation revealed X-ray diffuse emission around a middle-aged pulsar PSR J1420-6048 and a plausible PWN Rabbit with elongated sizes of $\sigma_{\rm X}=1^{\prime}.66$ and $\sigma_{\rm X}=1^{\prime}.49$, respectively. The peaks of the diffuse X-ray emission are located within the $\gamma$-ray excess maps obtained by H.E.S.S. and the offsets from the $\gamma$-ray peaks are $2^{\prime}.8$ for PSR J1420-6048 and $4^{\prime}.5$ for Rabbit. The X-ray spectra of the two sources were well reproduced by absorbed power-law models with $\Gamma=1.7-2.3$. The spectral shapes tend to become softer according to the distance from the X-ray peaks. Assuming the one zone electron emission model as the first order approximation, the ambient magnetic field strengths of HESS J1420-607 and HESS J1418-609 can be estimated as 3 $\mu$G, and $2.5 \mu$G, respectively. The X-ray spectral and spatial properties strongly support that both TeV sources are pulsar wind nebulae, in which electrons and positrons accelerated at termination shocks of the pulsar winds are losing their energies via the synchrotron radiation and inverse Compton scattering as they are transported outward.