Signatures of pulsars in the light curves of newly formed supernova remnants

TL;DR

This paper investigates how newly formed pulsars, especially millisecond pulsars, influence supernova remnants by affecting their light curves and high-energy emissions, providing potential observational signatures of the pulsars' presence.

Contribution

It introduces a model predicting the electromagnetic signatures of pulsars in supernova remnants, highlighting observable high-energy emissions and luminosity features that can reveal the nature of the compact remnant.

Findings

High luminosity plateau in bolometric light curves ($10^{43-44}$ erg/s) over a few years.

Potential detection of bright TeV gamma-ray emission a few years post-explosion.

Mild X-ray peaks ($10^{40-42}$ erg/s) occurring months to years after the supernova.

Abstract

We explore the effect of pulsars, in particular those born with millisecond periods, on their surrounding supernova ejectas. While they spin down, fast-spinning pulsars release their tremendous rotational energy in the form of a relativistic magnetized wind that can affect the dynamics and luminosity of the supernova. We estimate the thermal and non thermal radiations expected from these specific objects, concentrating at times a few years after the onset of the explosion. We find that the bolometric light curves present a high luminosity plateau (that can reach $10^{43-44}\,$erg/s) over a few years. An equally bright TeV gamma-ray emission, and a milder X-ray peak (of order $10^{40-42}\,$erg/s) could also appear a few months to a few years after the explosion, as the pulsar wind nebula emerges, depending on the injection parameters. The observations of these signatures by following the emission of a large number of supernovae could have important implications for the understanding of core-collapse supernovae and reveal the nature of the remnant compact object.