Signatures of pulsars in the light curves of newly formed supernova remnants

Abstract

We explore the effect of pulsars, in particular those born with millisecond periods, on their surrounding supernova ejectas. While they spin down, fast-spinning pulsars release their tremendous rotational energy in the form of a relativistic magnetized wind that can affect the dynamics and luminosity of the supernova. We estimate the thermal and non-thermal radiations expected from these specific objects, concentrating at times a few years after the onset of the explosion. We find that the bolometric light curves present a high luminosity plateau (that can reach 10^(43)–10^(44) erg s^(−1)) over a few years. An equally bright TeV gamma-ray emission, and a milder X-ray peak (of the order of 10^(40)–10^(42) erg s^(−1)) could also appear a few months to a few years after the explosion, as the pulsar wind nebula emerges, depending on the injection parameters. The observations of these signatures by following the emission of a large number of supernovae could have important implications for the understanding of core-collapse supernovae and reveal the nature of the remnant compact object.

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