2006/06/30 by Zhongxiang Wang, David L. Kaplan, D. L. Kaplan +1 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Flux (metallurgy) #Infrared #Infrared excess #Neutron star #Observatory #Optics #Physics #Point source #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Spitzer Space Telescope #Stars #Supernova #Supernova remnant #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/509869
published as Astrophys.J.655:261-268,2007 · 9 pages, 5 figures, revised to address referee's comments, and accepted for publication in ApJ
arxiv created 2006/10/04 · openalex publication_date 2007/01/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report on our search for the optical/infrared counterparts to the central compact objects in four young supernova remnants: Pup A, PKS 1209-52, RCW 103, and Cas A. The X-ray point sources in these supernova remnants are excellent targets for probing the existence of supernova fallback disks, since irradiation of a disk by a central X-ray source should lead to an infrared excess. We used ground-based optical and near-infrared imaging and Spitzer Space Telescope mid-infrared imaging to search for optical/infrared counterparts at the X-ray point-source positions measured by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory . We did not detect any counterparts and hence find no evidence for fallback disks around any of these sources. In PKS 1209-52 we are able to exclude a nearby optical/infrared candidate counterpart. In RCW 103, a blend of three faint stars at the X-ray source position prevents us from deriving useful limits. For the other targets, the upper limits on the infrared/X-ray flux ratio are as deep as (1.0-1.7) × 10 -4 . Comparing these limits to the ratio of ≈6 × 10 -5 measured for 4U 0142+61 (a young pulsar recently found with an X-ray-irradiated dust disk), we conclude that the nondetection of any disks around young neutron stars studied here is consistent with their relatively low X-ray luminosities, although we note that a similar dust disk around the neutron star in Pup A should be detectable by deeper infrared observations.