The deep scanning of the Galactic plane that INTEGRAL is performing
since more than 12 years now, gives access to a growing number of new,
intriguing and faint X-ray sources. IGR J11014-6103 is one of the
latest of these objects discovered by INTEGRAL.
The image shows IGR J11014-6103 as viewed in the soft X-ray band (1-10 keV)
with Chandra. The supernova remnant (MSH 11-61A), born 10000-20000
years ago during the same supernova explosion that formed IGR J11014-6103,
is visible at the top of the image.
Appearing as a point-like source in the IBIS/ISGRI energy band (20-10 keV),
IGR J11014-6103 shows instead a complex extended morphology in
the soft X-ray band. An isolated pulsar, which is racing out of its
supernova remnant with a supersonic speed of 1000-2000 km/s (the sound
speed in the interstellar gas is between 1-100 km/s), produces the
brightest emission ahead of the system. IGR J11014-6103 is among the
faster moving pulsars known so far, with a speed much higher than the
mean velocity of Galactic pulsars (400-500 km/s). It produces an
extended pulsar wind nebula, visible both in X-rays and radio waves as
a comet-like trail, owing to the pulsar's high speed.
Blasting away from the pulsar, there is a spectacular X-ray jet,
clearly shaped as a helix in space. With a length of 15 parsec, this is
the longest X-ray jet ever found in our Galaxy. For comparison, the
jets produced by the Crab and Vela pulsars are about 1 parsec in size.
This is the first case where a pulsar's jet could be firmly identified
in association with a run-away pulsar.
Astrophysical jets are detected in a wide range of sources, from
protostars to active galactic nuclei, but the underlying physics is
still poorly understood. This is particularly true for the few pulsars'
jets known up to now. The properties of the jet in IGR J11014-6103, its
bright emission, collimation, and its helical shape, opens up the
possibility to study the physics of jets in previously inaccessible
conditions. The morphology and properties of the entire system suggest
that it was formed through a peculiar collapse event of a massive star,
during which the star core might have brake into fragments. Widening
our understanding of core collapse mechanisms that form supernovae have
deep implications on star evolution, neutron stars and black holes
formation, as well as cosmology.
