Properties of a hypothetical cold pulsar wind in LS~5039

TL;DR

This study models a hypothetical cold pulsar wind in LS~5039, constraining its properties through simulations and multiwavelength data, and finds that a strongly magnetized cold wind is the most plausible scenario.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed dynamical-radiative model of a cold pulsar wind in LS~5039, exploring anisotropic and isotropic cases and their observational constraints.

Findings

Isotropic cold wind overpredicts X-ray and gamma-ray fluxes by a factor of ~3.

Anisotropic wind models can fit data if the wind axis is within 20-40 degrees of the line of sight.

A strongly magnetized cold wind is the most consistent with observational constraints.

Abstract

LS~5039 is a powerful gamma-ray binary that probably hosts a non-accreting pulsar. Despite the wealth of data available, the power source of the non-thermal emitter is still unknown. We use a dynamical-radiative numerical model and multiwavelength data to constrain the properties of a pulsar wind that may power the non-thermal emitter in LS~5039. We ran simulations of an ultrarelativistic (low-$B$) cold $e^\pm$-wind that Compton scatters stellar photons and that dynamically interacts with the stellar wind. The effects of energy losses on the unshocked $e^\pm$-wind dynamics, and the geometry of the two-wind contact discontinuity, are computed for different wind models. The predicted unshocked $e^\pm$-wind radiation at periastron, when expected to be highest, is compared to LS~5039 data. The minimum possible radiation from an isotropic cold $e^\pm$-wind overpredicts the X-ray to gamma-ray fluxes at periastron by a factor of $\sim 3$. In the anisotropic wind case X-ray and $\gtrsim 100$ MeV data are not violated by wind radiation if the wind axis is at $\lesssim 20-40^\circ$ from the line of sight (probability of $\lesssim 6-24$\%), depending on the anisotropic wind model, or if the wind Lorentz factor $\in 10^2-10^3$, in which case the wind power can be higher, but it requires $e^\pm$-multiplicities of $\sim 10^6$ and $10^9$ for a $10^{-2}$~s and 10~s pulsar period, respectively. The studied model predicts that a low-$B$ cold pulsar $e^\pm$-wind in LS~5039 should be strongly anisotropic, with either a wind Lorentz factor $\in 10^2-10^3$ and very high multiplicities or with a fine-tuned wind orientation. A low-$B$, cold baryon-dominated wind would be possible, but then the multiplicities should be rather low, while the baryon-to-$e^\pm$ energy transfer should be very efficient at wind termination. A strongly magnetized cold wind seems to be the most favorable (least constrained) option.