Abstract
Information about spatial distribution of the spectral index of the pulsar wind nebulae is important for understanding the structure of the nebulae and physical processes responsible for their formation. We present preliminary results on construction of a detailed index map of the Crab Nebula based on archival optical data obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. Our map has much better spatial resolution than the previous one obtained by Veron-Cetty and Woltjer in 1993. It allows us to study in great details how the spectral slope of the synchrotron emission of the Crab varies along its torus and jet-like structures.
Highlights
Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are the nebulae formed by the interaction between the interstellar medium and relativistic pulsar wind
We used images of the Crab which were obtained with Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
The data using the wide and medium band filters F300W, F547M, and F814W were obtained in 1995 August 14 (Program ID: 6129, PI Jeff Hester) with 3200s, 2000s, and 1400s total exposure times, respectively
Summary
Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are the nebulae formed by the interaction between the interstellar medium and relativistic pulsar wind. The Crab nebula (NGC 1952, Taurus A) powered by the pulsar B0531+21 is a classical example of such nebulae. It lies at a distance about 2 kpc from the Earth and is well-observed from radio to gamma-rays. The spectral index map in the radio with a resolution of ∼16” was presented by Bietenholz [4] It shows a general steepening of the radio spectrum with the distance from the pulsar. We present a preliminary results on the optical spectral index map constructed based on the archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data on Crab Nebula obtained with highest up to data subarcsecond spatial resolution.
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