The Proper Motion of the Pulsar J1124-5916 in the Galactic Supernova Remnant G292.0+1.8

TL;DR

This paper reports the first direct measurement of the proper motion of pulsar J1124-5916 in supernova remnant G292.0+1.8, revealing a high velocity consistent with hydrodynamic kick models and estimating the remnant's age.

Contribution

It provides the first direct proper motion measurement of pulsar J1124-5916, offering new insights into neutron star kicks and supernova remnant dynamics.

Findings

Proper motion of 0.21 arcseconds over 10 years measured.

Pulsar velocity estimated at 612 km/s in the plane of the sky.

Remnant age estimated to be over 2000 years.

Abstract

We present the first direct measurement of the proper motion of pulsar J1124-5916 in the young, oxygen-rich supernova remnant G292.0+1.8. Using deep Chandra ACIS-I observations from 2006 and 2016, we measure a positional change of $0.^{\prime\prime}21$ $\pm$ $0.^{\prime\prime}05$ over the $\sim$ 10 year baseline, or $\sim$ $0.^{\prime\prime}02$ yr$^{-1}$. At a distance of 6.2 $\pm$ 0.9 kpc, this corresponds to a kick velocity in the plane of the sky of $\mathrm{612\pm 152\,km \, s^{-1}}$. We compare this direct measurement against the velocity inferred from estimates based on the center of mass of the ejecta. Additionally, we use this new proper motion measurement to compare the motion of the neutron star to the center of expansion of the optically emitting ejecta. We derive an age estimate for the supernova remnant of $\gtrsim$ 2000 years. The high measured kick velocity is in line with recent studies of high proper motion neutron stars in other Galactic supernova remnants, and consistent with a hydrodynamic origin to the neutron star kick.