  We observed the young energetic pulsar J1617-5055 with the Chandra ACIS
detector for 60 ks. In addition to the pulsar, the X-ray images show a faint
pulsar-wind nebula (PWN) seen up to ~1' from the pulsar. Deconvolution and
reconstruction of the image reveal a brighter compact PWN component of ~1''
size, possibly with a jet-torus morphology. The PWN spectrum fits an absorbed
power-law (PL) model with the photon index Gamma=1.5. The total PWN luminosity
in the 0.5-8 keV band, L_{pwn}=3.2\times10^{33} ergs s^{-1} for d=6.5 kpc, is a
fraction of 2\times 10^{-4} of the pulsar's spin-down power and a fraction of
0.2 of the pulsar's X-ray luminosity, which is a factor of 20 lower than one
would expect from an average empirical relation found for a sample of PWNe
observed with Chandra. The pulsar's spectrum can be described by an absorbed PL
with n_{H}=3.5\times10^{22} cm^{-2} and Gamma=1.1, harder than any other pulsar
spectrum reliably measured in the soft X-ray band. This non-thermal emission is
50% pulsed showing one peak per period. We have also investigated a possible
connection between J1617 and the extended TeV source HESS J1616-508 whose
center is located about 10' west of the pulsar. We find no preferential
extension of the X-ray PWN toward the TeV source. Therefore, the Chandra data
do not provide conclusive evidence for PSR J1617-5055 and HESS J1616-508
association. We have also analyzed archival X-ray, radio, and IR data on the
HESS J1616-508 region and found traces of diffuse emission (resembling a shell
in the radio) coinciding with the central part of HESS J1616-508. We speculate
that the TeV source may be multiple, with most of the emission coming from an
unknown SNR or a star-forming region, while some fraction of the TeV emission
still may be attributed to the J1617 PWN.
