2009/02/17 by E. V. Gotthelf, J. P. Halpern · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/695/1/l35
5 pages, 4 figure, Latex, emulateapj style. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2009/02/17 · openalex publication_date 2009/03/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We report the discovery of 112 ms X-ray pulsations from RX J0822−4300, the compact central object (CCO) in the supernova remnant (SNR) Puppis A, in two archival Newton X-Ray Multi-Mirror Mission observations taken in 2001. The sinusoidal light curve has a pulsed fraction of 11% with an abrupt 180° change in phase at 1.2 keV. The observed phase shift and modulation are likely the result of emission from opposing thermal hot spots of distinct temperatures. Phase-resolved spectra reveal an emission feature at E line = 0.8 keV associated with the cooler region, possibly due to an electron cyclotron resonance effect similar to that seen in the spectrum of the CCO pulsar 1E 1207.4−5209. No change in the spin period of PSR J0821−4300 is detected in seven months, with a 2σ upper limit on the period derivative of . This implies limits on the spin-down energy loss rate of erg s −1 , the surface magnetic dipole field strength B s < 9.8 × 10 11 G, and the spin-down age τ c > 220 kyr. The latter is much longer than the SNR age, indicating that PSR J0821−4300 was born spinning near its present period. Its properties are remarkably similar to those of the two other known CCO pulsars, demonstrating the existence of a class of neutron stars born with weak magnetic fields related to a slow original spin. These results are also of importance in understanding the extreme transverse velocity of PSR J0821−4300, favoring the hydrodynamic instability mechanism in the supernova explosion.