2000/08/29 by Jacco Vink, Vink, Jacco, Fabrizio Bocchino +8
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0008457
4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophyisics
arxiv created 2000/08/29 · openalex publication_date 2000/08/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report on the discovery of an unresolved X-ray source inside the supernova remnant G315.4-2.3 (RCW 86). The source is located 7' to the Southwest of the geometrical centre and may be close to the actual explosion centre of the supernova, which makes this a candidate for the stellar remnant associated with RCW 86. However, the presence of a possible optical counterpart with V ∼ 14 at 3" from the X-ray position and evidence for long term variability means that the source is probably an active star. A better X-ray position and better X-ray spectroscopy along with an identification of the optical source are needed to exclude the X-ray source as a neutron star candidate.