377 research outputs found
Variations in the spin period of the radio-quiet pulsar 1E 1207.4-5209
The X-ray source 1E 1207.4-5209 is a compact central object in the
G296.5+10.0 supernova remnant. Its spin period of 424 ms, discovered with the
Chandra X-ray Observatory, suggests that it is a neutron star. The X-ray
spectrum of this radio-quiet pulsar shows at least two absorption lines, first
spectral features discovered in radiation from an isolated neutron star. Here
we report the results of timing analysis of Chandra and XMM-Newton observations
of this source showing a non-monotonous behavior of its period. We discuss
three hypotheses which may explain the observational result. The first one
assumes that 1E 1207.$-5209 is a glitching pulsar, with frequency jumps of
\Delta f > 5 \muHz occurring every 1-2 years. The second hypothesis explains
the deviations from a steady spin-down as due to accretion, with accretion rate
varying from \sim 10^{13} to >10^{16} g s^{-1}, from a disk possibly formed
from ejecta produced in the supernova explosion. Finally, the period variations
could be explained assuming that the pulsar is in a wide binary system with a
long period, P_orb \sim 0.2-6 yr, and a low-mass companion, M_2 < 0.3 M_\odot.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publications in ApJ. 2004 ApJ, in
pres
The pulsar wind nebula of the Geminga pulsar
The superb spatial resolution of Chandra has allowed us to detect a 20''-long
tail behind the Geminga pulsar, with a hard spectrum (photon index 1.0+/-0.2)
and a luminosity (1.3+/-0.2) 10^{29} ergs/s in the 0.5 - 8 keV band, for an
assumed distance of 200 pc. The tail could be either a pulsar jet, confined by
a toroidal magnetic field of about 100 microGauss, or it can be associated with
the shocked relativistic wind behind the supersonically moving pulsar confined
by the ram pressure of the oncoming interstellar medium. We also detected an
arc-like structure 5'' - 7'' ahead of the pulsar, extended perpendicular to the
tail, with a factor of 3 lower luminosity. We see a 3-sigma enhancement in the
Chandra image apparently connecting the arc with the southern outer tail that
has been possibly detected with XMM-Newton. The observed structures imply that
the Geminga's pulsar wind is intrinsically anisotropic.Comment: Revised version: data analysis described in more detail, Figure 2
replaced; 6 pages, 2 color figures; accepted for publication in ApJ (v.643,
2006 June 1
On the highly reddened members in 6 young galactic star clusters - a multiwavelength study
The spectral and reddening properties of 211 highly reddened proper motion
members with mag in 6 young galactic star clusters are investigated
using low resolution spectroscopic, broad-band and mid-IR data. We
report emission features in CaII HK and HI lines for a sample of 29 stars
including 11 stars reported for the first time and also provide either a new or
more reliable spectral class for a sample of 24 stars. CaII triplet width
measurements are used to indicate the presence of an accretion disk for a dozen
stars and to hint luminosity for a couple of stars. On the basis of spectral
features, near-IR excesses, dereddened color-color diagrams and mid-IR spectral
indices we identify a group of 28 pre-main sequence cluster members including 5
highly probable Herbig Ae/Be and 6 classical T Tauri star. A total of 25
non-emission MS stars, amounting to 10 % early type MS members, appears
to show Vega-like characteristics or are precursors to such a phenomenon. The
various membership indicators suggest that 16% of the PM members are
non-members. A significant fraction (70%) of program stars in NGC 1976, NGC
2244, NGC 6530 and NGC 6611 show anomalous reddening with =
, , and , respectively,
indicating the presence of grain size dust larger than that typical to the
diffuse medium. A small number of stars in NGC 1976, NGC 2244 and NGC 6611 also
show normal behavior while the cluster NGC 6823 appears to have a normal
reddening. Three highly luminous late type giants, one in NGC 2244 and two in
NGC 6530, appears to be member and are in post-hydrogen-core-burning stages
suggesting a prolonged duration ( 25 Myrs) of star formation.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, submitted to MNRA
X-ray emission from PSR J1809-1917 and its pulsar wind nebula, possibly associated with the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1809-193
We detected X-ray emission from the 50-kyr-old pulsar J1809-1917 and resolved
its pulsar wind nebula (PWN) with Chandra. The pulsar spectrum fits PL+BB model
with the photon index of 1.2 and the BB temperature of 2 MK for n_{H}=0.7\times
10^{22} cm^{-2}. The luminosities are(4\pm 1)\times 10^{31} ergs s^{-1} for the
PL component (in the 0.5-8 keV band) and ~1\times 10^{32} ergs s^{-1} for the
BB component (bolometric) at a plausible distance of 3.5 kpc. The bright inner
PWN component of a 3''\times12'' size is elongated in the north-south
direction, with the pulsar close to its south end. This component is immersed
in a larger (20''\times40''), similarly elongated outer PWN component of lower
surface brightness. The elongated shape of the compact PWN can be explained by
the ram pressure confinement of the pulsar wind due to the supersonic motion of
the pulsar. The PWN spectrum fits a PL model with photon index of 1.4\pm0.1 and
0.5-8 keV luminosity of 4\times10^{32} ergs s^{-1}. The compact PWN appears to
be inside a large-scale (~4'\times4') emission more extended to the south of
the pulsar, i.e. in the direction of the alleged pulsar motion. To explain the
extended X-ray emission ahead of the moving pulsar, one has to invoke strong
intrinsic anisotropy of the pulsar wind or assume that this emission comes from
a relic PWN swept by the asymmetrical reverse SNR shock. The pulsar and its PWN
are located within the extent of the unidentified TeV source HESS J1809-193
whose brightest part is offset by ~8' to the south of the pulsar, i.e. in the
same direction as the large-scale X-ray emission. Although the association
between J1809-1917 and HESS J1809-193 is plausible, an alternative source of
relativistic electrons powering HESS J1809-193 might be the serendipitously
discovered X-ray source CXOU J180940.7-192544.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures and 3 tables, submitted to ApJ. Version with the
high-resolution figures is available at
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/green/J1809/ms_astroph.pd
Phase Structure of Compact Star in Modified Quark-Meson Coupling Model
The K condensation and quark deconfinement phase transitions are
investigated in the modified quark-meson coupling model. It is shown that K
condensation is suppressed because of the quark deconfinement when
202.2MeV, where is the bag constant for unpaired quark matter.
With the equation of state (EOS) solved self-consistently, we discuss the
properties of compact stars. We find that the EOS of pure hadron matter with
condensed K phase should be ruled out by the redshift for star EXO0748-676,
while EOS containing unpaired quark matter phase with being about
180MeV could be consistent with this observation and the best measured mass of
star PSR 1913+16. We then probe into the change of the phase structures in
possible compact stars with deconfinment phase as the central densities
increase. But if the recent inferred massive star among Terzan 5 with
M1.68M is confirmed, all the present EOSes with condensed phase
and deconfined phase would be ruled out and therefore these exotic phases are
unlikely to appear within neutron stars.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
X-ray Spectrum and Pulsations of the Vela Pulsar
We report the results of the spectral and timing analysis of observations of
the Vela pulsar with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The spectrum shows no
statistically significant spectral lines in the observed 0.25--8.0 keV band. It
consists of two distinct continuum components. The softer component can be
modeled as either a magnetic hydrogen atmosphere spectrum with kT = 59 +- 3 eV,
R = 15.5 +- 1.5 km, or a standard blackbody with kT = 129 +- 4 eV, R = 2.1 +-
0.2 km (the radii are for a distance of 250 pc). The harder component, modeled
as a power-law spectrum, gives photon indices depending on the model adopted
for the soft component: gamma = 1.5 +- 0.3 for the magnetic atmosphere soft
component, and gamma = 2.7 +- 0.4 for the blackbody soft component. Timing
analysis shows three peaks in the pulse profile, separated by about 0.3 in
phase. Energy-resolved timing provides evidence for pulse profile variation
with energy. The higher energy (E > 1.8 keV) profile shows significantly higher
pulsed fraction.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, To appear in "Neutron Stars in Supernova
Remnants" (ASP Conference Proceedings), eds P. O. Slane and B. M. Gaensler
Corrected TYPO
Deep infrared observations of the puzzling central X-ray source in RCW103
1E 161348-5055 (1E 1613) is a point-like, soft X-ray source originally
identified as a radio-quiet, isolated neutron star, shining at the center of
the 2000 yr old supernova remnant RCW103. 1E 1613 features a puzzling 6.67 hour
periodicity as well as a dramatic variability over a time scale of few years.
Such a temporal behavior, coupled to the young age and to the lack of an
obvious optical counterpart, makes 1E 1613 a unique source among all compact
objects associated to SNRs. It could either be the first low-mass X-ray binary
system discovered inside a SNR, or a peculiar isolated magnetar with an
extremely slow spin period. Analysis of archival IR observations, performed in
2001 with the VLT/ISAAC instrument, and in 2002 with the NICMOS camera onboard
HST unveils a very crowded field. A few sources are positionally consistent
with the refined X-ray error region that we derived from the analysis of 13
Chandra observations. To shed light on the nature of 1E 1613, we have performed
deep IR observations of the field with the NACO instrument at the ESO/VLT,
searching for variability. We find no compelling reasons to associate any of
the candidates to 1E 1613. On one side, within the frame of the binary system
model for the X-ray source, it is very unlikely that one of the candidates be a
low-mass companion star to 1E 1613. On the other side, if the X-ray source is
an isolated magnetar surrounded by a fallback disc, we cannot exclude that the
IR counterpart be hidden among the candidates. If none of the potential
counterparts is linked to the X-ray source, 1E 1613 would remain undetected in
the IR down to Ks>22.1. Such an upper limit is consistent only with an
extremely low-mass star (an M6-M8 dwarf) at the position of 1E 1613, and makes
rather problematic the interpretation of 1E 1613 as an accreting binary system.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Spot-like Structures of Neutron Star Surface Magnetic Fields
There is growing evidence, based on both X-ray and radio observations of
isolated neutron stars, that besides the large--scale (dipolar) magnetic field,
which determines the pulsar spin--down behaviour, small--scale poloidal field
components are present, which have surface strengths one to two orders of
magnitude larger than the dipolar component. We argue in this paper that the
Hall--effect can be an efficient process in producing such small--scale field
structures just above the neutron star surface. It is shown that due to a
Hall--drift induced instability, poloidal magnetic field structures can be
generated from strong subsurface toroidal fields, which are the result of
either a dynamo or a thermoelectric instability acting at early times of a
neutron star's life. The geometrical structure of these small--scale surface
anomalies of the magnetic field resembles that of some types of
``star--spots''. The magnetic field strength and the length--scales are
comparable with values that can be derived from various observations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters;
language improved, 2nd para of Sect. 3 change
X-ray observations of the compact central object in supernova remnant G347.3-0.5
We present Chandra, XMM-Newton and RXTE observations of 1WGA J1713.4-3949, a
compact source at the center of the galactic supernova remnant (SNR)
G347.3-0.5. The X-ray spectrum of the source is well-fitted by the sum of a
blackbody component with a temperature of about 0.4 keV plus a power law
component with photon index about 4. We found no pulsations down to 4% in the
0.01-0.16 Hz range and down to 25% in the 0.01-128 Hz range. This source
resembles other compact central objects (CCOs) in SNRs, and we suggest that
1WGA J1713.4-3949 is the associated neutron star for G347.3--0.5. We also
measured the properties of the adjacent radio pulsar PSR J1713-3945 with a 392
ms period and show that it is not associated with 1WGA J1713.4-3949 nor, most
probably, with SNR G347.3-0.5 as well.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
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