Search for Thermal Afterglow from PSR 0656+14
Abstract
Thermal afterglow caused by transient energy releases in neutron stars could alter the X-ray pulse shape of pulsars by heating a portion of the crust so that more thermal X-rays are emitted at a particular phase. We developed a method to look for such changes in X-ray pulsars. We put a typical lower limit of 3.9 × 1031 ergs s-1 (1.4 × 1035 ergs in a 1 hr exposure) on the average excess X-ray luminosity required to see thermal afterglow from ROSAT data of PSR 0656+14 consisting of three separate observations lasting 3-5 hr. The lower limit obtained allows us to constrain the glitch parameters and the equation of state for neutron stars. In particular, a differentiation could be made between the vortex unpinning model and the starquake model for pulsar glitches if a search for thermal afterglow were performed contemporaneously with glitch observations.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 1997
- DOI:
- 10.1086/303509
- Bibcode:
- 1997ApJ...475..300A
- Keywords:
-
- Stars: Pulsars: Individual: Alphanumeric: PSR 0656+14;
- Stars: Neutron;
- X-Rays: Stars