ROSAT observations of PSR 0950+08.
Abstract
We report on observations of the radio pulsar PSR 0950 + 08 obtained using the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter and Wide Field Camera on board ROSAT. The background-corrected count rate is determined to be 0.0069 +/- 0.0012 count/s in the 0.08-2.4 keV energy range. The derived spectrum could be fitted to both blackbody and power-law models modified by interstellar absorption. The best-fitting surface temperature of 2.6 x 10 exp 6 K and the age of PSR 0950 + 08 imply that some form of heating process is occurring if the emission is thermal. The small implied size of the emission region points towards some form of polar-cap heating, although of the models available only the 'slot-gap' model proposed by Arons can perhaps account for the observed luminosity. The most likely explanation for the emission is that PSR 0950 + 08 is surrounded by a synchrotron nebula, which is unresolved and has a spectral index of about 1. For either model the X-ray luminosity (0.08-2.4 keV) is about 10 exp 29 erg/s.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- February 1994
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/266.3.635
- Bibcode:
- 1994MNRAS.266..635M
- Keywords:
-
- Rosat Mission;
- Pulsars;
- X Ray Stars;
- X Ray Astronomy;
- Spectrum Analysis;
- Thermal Radiation;
- Nonthermal Radiation;
- Nebulae;
- X Ray Spectra;
- Astrophysics