X-ray Thread G0.13-0.11: A Pulsar Wind Nebula?

Abstract

We have examined Chandra observations of the recently discovered X-ray thread G0.13-0.11 in the Galactic center Radio Arc region. Part of the {\sl Chandra} data was studied by Yusef-Zadeh, Law, & Wardle (2002), who reported the detection of 6.4-keV line emission in this region. We find, however, that this line emission is {\sl not} associated with G0.13-0.11. The X-ray spectra of both G0.13-0.11 and the point-like source embedded are well characterized by a power law. The 2 -- 10 keV band luminosities of these two components are $\sim 3.2\times 10^{33}{\rm ergs s^{-1}}$ (G0.13-0.11) and $\sim 7.5 \times10^{32} {\rm ergs s^{-1}}$ (point source) at the Galactic center distance of 8 kpc. The morphological, spectral, and luminosity properties strongly indicate that G0.13-0.11 represents the leading-edge of a pulsar wind nebula, produced by a pulsar (point source) moving in a strong magnetic field environment. The main body of this pulsar wind nebula is likely traced by a bow-shaped radio feature, which is apparently bordered by G0.13-0.11 and is possibly associated with the prominent nonthermal radio filaments of the Radio Arc. We speculate that young pulsars may be responsible for various unique nonthermal filamentary radio and X-ray features observed in the Galactic center region.