Identification of candidate millisecond pulsars from Fermi LAT observations
Abstract
We report our detailed data analysis of 39 γ-ray sources selected from the 992 unassociated sources in the third Fermi Large Area Telescope Third Source Catalog. The selection criteria, which were set for finding candidate millisecond pulsars (MSPs), are non-variables with curved spectra and >5° Galactic latitudes. From our analysis, 24 sources were found to be point-like sources not contaminated by background or nearby unknown sources. Three of them, J1544.6-1125, J1625.1-0021 and J1653.6-0158, have been previously studied, indicating that they are likely MSPs. The spectra of J0318.1+0252 and J2053.9+2922 do not have properties similar to known γ-ray MSPs, and we thus suggest that they are not MSPs. Analysis of archival X-ray data for most of the 24 sources was also conducted. Four sources were found with X-ray objects in their error circles, and 16 with no detection. The ratios between the γ-ray fluxes and X-ray fluxes or flux upper limits are generally lower than those of known γ-ray MSPs, suggesting that if the γ-ray sources are MSPs, none of the X-ray objects are their counterparts. Deep X-ray or radio observations of these sources are needed in order to identify their MSP nature.
- Publication:
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Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- June 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1088/1674-4527/16/6/097
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1602.04554
- Bibcode:
- 2016RAA....16...97D
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 12 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in RAA