We present the analysis of the Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of the eccentric gamma-ray binary PSR B1259-63/LS 2883. The analysis shows that the extended X-ray feature seen in previous observations is still moving away from the binary with an average projected velocity of about 0.07c and shows a hint of acceleration. The spectrum of the feature appears to be hard (photon index of 0.8) with no sign of softening compared to previously measured values. We interpret it as a clump of plasma ejected from the binary through the interaction of the pulsar with the decretion disk of the O-star around periastron passage. We suggest that the clump is moving in the unshocked relativistic pulsar wind (PW), which can accelerate the clump. Its X-ray emission can be interpreted as synchrotron radiation of the PW shocked by the collision with the clump.
@article{arxiv.1505.07155,
title = {An extended X-ray object ejected from the PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 binary},
author = {George G. Pavlov and Jeremy Hare and Oleg Kargaltsev and Blagoy Rangelov and Martin Durant},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.07155},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
8 pages, 4 figures accepted for publication by ApJ