The Radio Nebula of the Soft Gamma Ray Repeater SGR 1806-20

Abstract

Earlier we had suggested that G10.0-0.3, a non-thermal nebula, most likely an old supernova remnant (SNR), was associated with the soft gamma repeater (SGR) SGR 1806-20. Here we present new radio images obtained at the Very Large Array (VLA) of the non-thermal radio nebula G10.0-0.3. The nebula is a plerion with a hierarchy of nested amorphous components culminating in a peak. The recent dramatic detection of an X-ray point source coincident with the radio peak and a hard X-ray burst localized to G10.0-0.3 confirms the SNR-SGR association. We propose that the SGR is an isolated pulsar with both a steady and impulsive relativistic particle wind and these two together power the nebula. We note that both this SGR and SGR 0526-66 are offset from the centers of their SNRs which requires high space motion of the pulsar. We suggest that some natal mechanism produces high velocity and induces SGR activity.

7 pages, PostScript. Figure available on request from dfrail@nrao.edu