A relativistic jet from a neutron star breaking out of its natal supernova remnant

TL;DR

This paper presents the first observations of a neutron star jet breaking out of its supernova remnant, supported by deep radio imaging, spectral analysis, and relativistic hydrodynamic simulations, revealing early jet evolution in a young system.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence of a neutron star jet emerging from its supernova remnant, combining observations with simulations to understand early jet development.

Findings

Relativistic jet-punched bubbles aligned with small-scale jets.

Minimum energy of the nebula estimated at 10^45 erg.

Simulations suggest jets follow a supernova explosion within 100 years.

Abstract

The young neutron star X-ray binary, Cir X-1, resides within its natal supernova remnant and experiences ongoing outbursts every 16.5 days, likely due to periastron passage in an eccentric orbit. We present the deepest ever radio image of the field, which reveals relativistic jet-punched bubbles that are aligned with the mean axis of the smaller-scale jets observed close to the X-ray binary core. We are able to measure the minimum energy for the bubble, which is around $E_{min}$ = $10^{45} $ erg. The nature and morphological structure of the source were investigated through spectral index mapping and numerical simulations. The spectral index map reveals a large fraction of the nebula's radio continuum has a steep slope, associated with optically thin synchrotron emission, although there are distinct regions with flatter spectra. Our data are not sensitive enough to measure the spectral index of the protruding bubbles. We used the PLUTO code to run relativistic hydrodynamic simulations to try and qualitatively reproduce the observations with a combined supernova-plus-jet system. We are able to do so using a simplified model in which the asymmetrical bubbles are best represented by supernova explosion which is closely followed (within 100 years) by a phase of very powerful jets lasting less than 1000 years. These are the first observations revealing the initial breakout of neutron star jets from their natal supernova remnant, and further support the scenario in which Cir X-1 is a younger relation of the archetypal jet source SS433.