Confirming the nature of the knot near the pulsar B1951+32

D. A. Zyuzin, Yu A. Shibanov, G. G. Pavlov, A. A. Danilenko

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

The energetic and fast-moving radio and γ-ray pulsar B1951+32 is associated with the supernova remnant CTB 80. It powers a complex pulsar wind nebula detected in the radio, Hα and X-rays (Moon et al 2004 ApJ 610 L33). A puzzling optical knot was detected about 0″.5 from the pulsar in the optical and near-IR (Moon et al 2004 ApJ 610 L33; Hester 2000 Bulletin of the AAS 32 1542). It is reminiscent of the unique "inner optical knot" located 0″.6 from the Crab pulsar. Until now there has been no evidence that B1951+32 knot is indeed associated with the pulsar. We observed the pulsar field with the Gemini-North telescope in 2016 to check the association. We performed first near-IR high spatial resolution imaging in the Ks band using the NIRI+Altair instrument and deep optical imaging in the gr bands using the GMOS instrument. Our observations showed that the current knot position is shifted by ≈ 0″.6 from the position measured with the HST in 1997. This is consistent with the known pulsar proper motion and is direct evidence of the pulsar-knot connection. We compared the spectral energy distribution of the knot emission with that of the Crab knot. Possible implications of the results are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number012054
JournalJournal of Physics: Conference Series
Volume932
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 12 2017
Event11th International Conference Physics of Neutron Stars 2017 - St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Duration: Jul 10 2017Jul 14 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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