Revisiting the Chandra Observation on the Region of PSR J1J1809–193: Indication of the Existence of an X-Ray Halo and Implication for the Origin of HESS J1809–193

Abstract

HESS J1809–193 is an extended TeV γ -ray source and the origin of its γ -ray emission remains ambiguous. The pulsar wind nebula (PWN) of PSR J1J1809–193 lying inside the extended γ -ray emission is a possible candidate. Powered by the central pulsar, ultrarelativistic electrons in the PWN can produce radio to X-ray emission through synchrotron and γ -ray emission by inverse Compton (IC) scattering. To check whether this PWN is the counterpart of HESS J1809–193, we analyzed the Chandra X-ray radial intensity profile and spectral index profile of this PWN. We then adopted a one-zone isotropic diffusion model to fit the keV and TeV data. We found diffuse nonthermal X-ray emission extending beyond the PWN, which is likely an X-ray halo radiated by escaping electron/positron pairs from the PWN. A relatively strong magnetic field of ∼20 μ G is required to explain the spatial evolution of the X-ray spectrum (i.e., the significant softening of the spectrum with increasing distance from the pulsar), which, however, would suppress the IC radiation of pairs. Our result implies that a hadronic component may be needed to explain HESS J1809–193.

Keywords

• High energy astrophysics
• Pulsar wind nebulae
• X-ray astronomy
• Gamma-ray sources
• Non-thermal radiation sources