2011/07/19 by P. Esposito, R. Turolla, A. De Luca +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19473.x
published as Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 418, pages 170-175 (2011) · 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Figures 2,3 and 5 in reduced quality
arxiv created 2011/07/19 · openalex publication_date 2011/08/29 · arxiv updated 2012/10/19 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The X-ray source 1E 161348−5055 lies at the centre of the 2-kyr-old supernova remnant RCW 103. Owing to its 24-ks modulation, orders-of-magnitude flux variability over a few months/years and lack of an obvious optical counterpart, 1E 161348−5055 defies assignment to any known class of X-ray sources. Starting from 2006 April, Swift observed 1E 161348−5055 with its X-Ray Telescope for ∼2 ks approximately once per month. During the five years covered, the source has remained in a quiescent state, with an average observed flux of ∼1.7 × 10−12 erg cm−2 s−1 (1–10 keV), ∼20 times lower than the historical maximum attained in its 1999–2000 outburst. The long time-span of the Swift data allows us to obtain an accurate measure of the period of 1E 161348−5055 [P= 24 030.42(2) s] and to derive the first upper limit on its period derivative ( s s−1 at 3σ).