Lepto-Hadronic Origin of gamma-rays from the G54.1+0.3 Pulsar Wind Nebula

Abstract

G54.1+0.3 is a Crab-like pulsar wind nebula (PWN) with the highest $\gamma$-ray to X-ray luminosity ratio among all the nebulae driven by young rotation-powered pulsars. We model the spectral evolution of the PWN and find it difficult to match the observed multi-band data with leptons alone using reasonable model parameters. In lepton-hadron hybrid model instead, TeV photons come mainly from $\pi^0$ decay in proton-proton interaction and the observed photon spectrum can be well reproduced. The newly discovered infrared loop and molecular cloud in or closely around the PWN can work as the target for the bombardment of the PWN protons.