CHANDRA DETECTION OF A NEW DIFFUSE X-RAY COMPONENT FROM THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER 47 TUCANAE

Journal Article · Fri Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/788/2/L40· OSTI ID:22365765

Wu, E. M. H.; Cheng, K. S. ^[1]; Hui, C. Y. ^[2]; Kong, A. K. H.; Tam, P. H. T. ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road (Hong Kong)
2. Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
3. Institute of Astronomy and Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan (China)

In re-analyzing the archival Chandra data of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, we have detected a new diffuse X-ray emission feature within the half-mass radius of the cluster. The spectrum of the diffuse emission can be described by a power-law model plus a plasma component with photon index Γ ∼ 1.0 and plasma temperature kT ∼ 0.2 keV. While the thermal component is apparently uniform, the non-thermal contribution falls off exponentially from the core. The observed properties could possibly be explained in the context of multiple shocks resulting from the collisions among the stellar wind in the cluster and the inverse Compton scattering between the pulsar wind and the relic photons.

• OSTI ID: 22365765
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 788, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMPTON EFFECT
COSMIC PHOTONS
DETECTION
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
INDEXES
ION TEMPERATURE
KEV RANGE
PULSARS
STAR CLUSTERS
STARS
STELLAR WINDS
X RADIATION