Hard X-ray emission from the SNR G337.2+0.1

Abstract

We report the hard X-ray emission of the SNR candidate G337.2+0.1. The object shows centrally filled and diffuse X-ray emission, which peaks in the hard 3.0−10.0 keV band. A spectral study confirms that the column density of the central part of the object is about NH ∼5.9(±1.5)×1022 cm−2 and its X-ray spectrum is well represented by a single power-law with a photon index Γ=0.96±0.56. Detailed spectral analysis indicates that the outer region is highly absorbed and quite softer than the inner region. Such characteristics are already observed in other X-ray plerions. Based on the morphological and spectral X-ray information, we confirm the SNR nature of G337.2+0.1, and suggest that the central region of the source is a pulsar wind nebula (PWN), originated by an energetic though yet undetected pulsar, that is currently losing energy at a rate of ∼ 1036 erg s−1 .