High-energy particles in the wind nebula of pulsar B1509-58 as seen by INTEGRAL

Abstract

We present observations with the INTEGRAL/IBIS telescope of the wind nebula powered by the young pulsar B1509-58 and we discuss the spatial and spectral properties of the unpulsed emission in the 20-200 keV energy band. The source extension and orientation along the northwest-southeast axis corresponds to the jet emission seen at keV and TeV energies. The hard X-ray spectrum is consistent with the earlier Beppo-SAX measurements. It follows a power law with a photon index alpha = -2.12 pm 0.05 up to 160 keV. A possible break at this energy is found at the 2.9 sigma confidence level. The 0.1-100 keV data are consistent with synchrotron aging of pairs in the jet and yield a magnetic field strength of 22-33 muG for a bulk velocity of 0.3-0.5c. The synchrotron cut-off energy thus corresponds to a maximum electron energy of 400-730 TeV.