A closer view of the IGR J11014-6103 outflows

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed analysis of the Lighthouse nebula's complex X-ray outflows, confirming the helical jet pattern, detecting the counter-jet, and revealing extended emission, challenging simple ballistic jet models.

Contribution

The paper presents new deep Chandra observations that clarify the morphology and spectral properties of the nebula's outflows, offering insights into their complex nature and challenging existing models.

Findings

Confirmed the helical pattern of the main jet.

Detected the counter-jet with high significance.

Discovered extended emission along the jet.

Abstract

The complex X-ray system IGR J11014-6103 (a.k.a. the Lighthouse nebula) is composed of a bow-shock pulsar wind nebula (PWN) as well as large-scale jet-like features, all launched by IGR J11014-6103 which is moving supersonically in the interstellar medium. Previous observations suggested that the jet features stem from a ballistic jet of relativistic particles. In order to confirm the nature of the jet and the marginally detected counter-jet, we obtained a new deep 250 ks Chandra observation of the Lighthouse nebula. We performed detailed spatial and spectral analysis of all X-ray components of the system. The X-ray PWN is now better resolved and shows a clear bi-modal morphology. The overall helical pattern of the main jet is confirmed. However, there are large deviations from a simple helical model at small and large scales. Significant extended emission is now detected, encompassing the main jet all along its length. The brightness dip of the main jet at ~50" distance from the pulsar is confirmed, the extended emission however prevents conclusions about the coherence at this position of the jet. The counter-jet is now detected at high statistical significance. In addition, we found two small-scale "arcs" departing from the pulsar towards the jets. We also looked for possible bow-shock emission in front of the pulsar, with a short VLT/FORS2 H-alpha observation. No clear emission is found, most likely because of contamination from a diffuse surrounding nebulosity. The results of our X-ray analysis show that current expectations from a ballistic nature of the jets can explain satisfactorily some of the observational evidences but cannot fully reproduce the observations. The alternative scenario (diffusion of particles along preexisting magnetic field lines in the surrounding medium) however also continues to suffer from conflicts with the observations.