Kavli Affiliate: Melania Nynka
| Summary:
We present a broadband X-ray study of W50 (`the Manatee nebula’), the complex region powered by the microquasar SS 433, that provides a test-bed for several important astrophysical processes. The W50 nebula, a Galactic PeVatron candidate, is classified as a supernova remnant but has an unusual double-lobed morphology likely associated with the jets from SS 433. Using NuSTAR, XMM-Newton, and Chandra observations of the inner eastern lobe of W50, we have detected hard non-thermal X-ray emission up to $sim$30 keV, originating from a few-arcminute size knotty region (`Head’) located $lesssim$ 18$^prime$ (29 pc for a distance of 5.5 kpc) east of SS 433, and constrain its photon index to 1.58$pm$0.05 (0.5-30 keV band). The index gradually steepens eastward out to the radio `ear’ where thermal soft X-ray emission with a temperature $kT$$sim$0.2 keV dominates. The hard X-ray knots mark the location of acceleration sites within the jet and require an equipartition magnetic field of the order of $gtrsim$12$μ$G. The unusually hard spectral index from the `Head’ region challenges classical particle acceleration processes and points to particle injection and re-acceleration in the sub-relativistic SS 433 jet, as seen in blazars and pulsar wind nebulae.
| Search Query: arXiv Query: search_query=au:”Nynka Melania”&id_list=&start=0&max_results=10
Read More