Probing the spectrum of the magnetar 4U 0142+61 with JWST
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2024
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| _version_ | 1866916329100935168 |
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| author | Hare, Jeremy Pavlov, George G. Posselt, Bettina Kargaltsev, Oleg Temim, Tea Chen, Steven |
| author_facet | Hare, Jeremy Pavlov, George G. Posselt, Bettina Kargaltsev, Oleg Temim, Tea Chen, Steven |
| contents | JWST observed the magnetar 4U 0142+61 with the MIRI and NIRCam instruments within a 77 min time interval on 2022 September 20-21. The low-resolution MIRI spectrum and NIRCam photometry show that the spectrum in the wavelength range 1.4-11 $μ$m range can be satisfactorily described by an absorbed power-law model, $f_ν\propto ν^{-α}$, with a spectral slope $α=0.96\pm0.02$, interstellar extinction $A_V= 3.9\pm0.2$, and normalization $f_0 = 59.4\pm 0.5$ $μ$Jy at $λ= 8$ $μ$m. These observations do not support the passive disk model proposed by Wang et al. (2006), based on the Spitzer photometry, which was interpreted as evidence for a fallback disk from debris formed during the supernova explosion. We suggest a nonthermal origin for this emission and source variability as the most likely cause of discrepancies between the JWST data and other IR-optical observing campaigns. However, we cannot firmly exclude the presence of a large disk with a different dependence of the effective disk temperature on distance from the magnetar. Comparison with the power-law fit to the hard X-ray spectrum above 10 keV, measured by NuSTAR contemporaneously with JWST, shows that the X-ray spectrum is significantly harder. This may imply that the X-ray and IR nonthermal emission come from different sites in the magnetosphere of the magnetar. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_03947 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Probing the spectrum of the magnetar 4U 0142+61 with JWST Hare, Jeremy Pavlov, George G. Posselt, Bettina Kargaltsev, Oleg Temim, Tea Chen, Steven High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena JWST observed the magnetar 4U 0142+61 with the MIRI and NIRCam instruments within a 77 min time interval on 2022 September 20-21. The low-resolution MIRI spectrum and NIRCam photometry show that the spectrum in the wavelength range 1.4-11 $μ$m range can be satisfactorily described by an absorbed power-law model, $f_ν\propto ν^{-α}$, with a spectral slope $α=0.96\pm0.02$, interstellar extinction $A_V= 3.9\pm0.2$, and normalization $f_0 = 59.4\pm 0.5$ $μ$Jy at $λ= 8$ $μ$m. These observations do not support the passive disk model proposed by Wang et al. (2006), based on the Spitzer photometry, which was interpreted as evidence for a fallback disk from debris formed during the supernova explosion. We suggest a nonthermal origin for this emission and source variability as the most likely cause of discrepancies between the JWST data and other IR-optical observing campaigns. However, we cannot firmly exclude the presence of a large disk with a different dependence of the effective disk temperature on distance from the magnetar. Comparison with the power-law fit to the hard X-ray spectrum above 10 keV, measured by NuSTAR contemporaneously with JWST, shows that the X-ray spectrum is significantly harder. This may imply that the X-ray and IR nonthermal emission come from different sites in the magnetosphere of the magnetar. |
| title | Probing the spectrum of the magnetar 4U 0142+61 with JWST |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.03947 |