XMM-Newton observations of the eastern jet of SS 433

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, 85740 Garching, Germany e-mail: wpb@mpe.mpg.de
² Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 O-okayama, Meguro-ku, 152-8551 Tokyo, Japan

Received: 8 May 2006
Accepted: 26 October 2006

Abstract

Context.The radio supernova remnant W50 hosts at its center the peculiar galactic X-ray binary SS 433. It shows a central spherical structure with two “ears” which are supposed to be formed by the interaction of the precessing jets of SS 433 with the supernova shell.

Aims.A study of the spectral and spatial structure of the X-ray emission can reveal the physical conditions of the interaction of the precessing jet of SS 433 with the material of the surrounding supernova remnant W50.

Methods.In two pointings in September/October 2004 for 30 ks each the eastern jet of SS 433 was observed with XMM-Newton to study the outermost parts of the “ear” and the X-ray bright emission region about 35´  from SS 433.

Results.The spectra consist of two components: a non-thermal power law with photon index and a thermal component at a typical temperature of  keV. The X-ray emission seems to fill the whole interior region of the radio remnant W50. The jet terminates in the eastern “ear” in a ring-like terminal shock which indicates a flow with a kind of hollow-cone morphology. The spatial coincidence of X-ray and radio emission suggests physical conditions similar to those found at the outer shocks of ordinary supernova remnants. The bright emission region closer to SS 433 radiates non-thermally in a spatially well confined geometry at higher X-ray energies. At soft X-rays the shape of the region gets blurred, centered on the hard lenticular emission. The shape of this region and the bend in the jet propagation direction might be caused by the interaction of a re-collimated jet with the outer, non homogeneous interstellar matter distribution.

Conclusions.The physical conditions leading to the re-collimation of the jet and the peculiar emission morphology are far from being understood and require deeper observations as well as a detailed modeling of the interaction of a jet with its surroundings.