4 research outputs found
Optical spectroscopy of the radio pulsar PSR B0656+14
We have obtained the spectrum of a middle-aged PSR B0656+14 in the 4300-9000
AA range with the ESO/VLT/FORS2. Preliminary results show that at 4600-7000 AA
the spectrum is almost featureless and flat with a spectral index $\alpha_nu ~
-0.2 that undergoes a change to a positive value at longer wavelengths.
Combining with available multiwavelength data suggests two wide, red and blue,
flux depressions whose frequency ratio is about 2 and which could be the 1st
and 2nd harmonics of electron/positron cyclotron absorption formed at magnetic
fields ~10^8G in upper magnetosphere of the pulsar.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, To appear in Astrophysics and Space Science,
Proceedings of "Isolated Neutron Stars: from the Interior to the Surface",
eds. D. Page, R. Turolla and S. Zan
High-time Resolution Astrophysics and Pulsars
The discovery of pulsars in 1968 heralded an era where the temporal
characteristics of detectors had to be reassessed. Up to this point detector
integration times would normally be measured in minutes rather seconds and
definitely not on sub-second time scales. At the start of the 21st century
pulsar observations are still pushing the limits of detector telescope
capabilities. Flux variations on times scales less than 1 nsec have been
observed during giant radio pulses. Pulsar studies over the next 10 to 20 years
will require instruments with time resolutions down to microseconds and below,
high-quantum quantum efficiency, reasonable energy resolution and sensitive to
circular and linear polarisation of stochastic signals. This chapter is review
of temporally resolved optical observations of pulsars. It concludes with
estimates of the observability of pulsars with both existing telescopes and
into the ELT era.Comment: Review; 21 pages, 5 figures, 86 references. Book chapter to appear
in: D.Phelan, O.Ryan & A.Shearer, eds.: High Time Resolution Astrophysics
(Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springer, 2007). The original
publication will be available at http://www.springerlink.co
Middle aged γ-ray pulsar J1957+5033 in X-rays: Pulsations, thermal emission, and nebula
We analyse new XMM-Newton and archival Chandra observations of the middle-aged γ-ray radio-quiet pulsar J1957+5033. We detect, for the first time, X-ray pulsations with the pulsar spin period of the point-like source coinciding by position with the pulsar. This confirms the pulsar nature of the source. In the 0.15-0.5 keV band, there is a single pulse per period and the pulsed fraction is ≈18 ± 6 per cent. In this band, the pulsar spectrum is dominated by a thermal emission component that likely comes from the entire surface of the neutron star, while at higher energies (≥0.7 keV) it is described by a power law with the photon index Γ ≈ 1.6. We construct new hydrogen atmosphere models for neutron stars with dipole magnetic fields and non-uniform surface temperature distributions with relatively low effective temperatures. We use them in the spectral analysis and derive the pulsar average effective temperature of ≈(2-3) × 105 K. This makes J1957+5033 the coldest among all known thermally emitting neutron stars with ages below 1 Myr. Using the interstellar extinction-distance relation, we constrain the distance to the pulsar in the range of 0.1-1 kpc. We compare the obtained X-ray thermal luminosity with those for other neutron stars and various neutron star cooling models and set some constraints on the latter. We observe a faint trail-like feature, elongated ∼8 arcmin from J1957+5033. Its spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index Γ = 1.9 ± 0.5 suggesting that it is likely a pulsar wind nebula powered by J1957+5033