X- and γ-Ray Pulsations of the Nearby Radio-faint PSR J1741-2054
Abstract
We report the results of a deep XMM-Newton observation of the radio-faint γ-ray pulsar J1741-2054 and its nebula together with the analysis of five years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data. The X-ray spectrum of the pulsar is consistent with an absorbed power law plus a blackbody, originating at least partly from the neutron star cooling. The nebular emission is consistent with that of a synchrotron pulsar wind nebula, with hints of spatial spectral variation. We extended the available Fermi LAT ephemeris and folded the γ-ray and X-ray data. We detected X-ray pulsations from the neutron star: both the thermal and non-thermal components are ~35%-40% pulsed, with phase-aligned maxima. A sinusoid fits the thermal-folded profile well. A 10 bin phase-resolved analysis of the X-ray emission shows softening of the non-thermal spectrum during the on-pulse phases. The radio, X-ray, and γ-ray light curves are single-peaked, not phase-aligned, with the X-ray peak trailing the γ-ray peak by more than half a rotation. Spectral considerations suggest that the most probable pulsar distance is in the 0.3-1.0 kpc range, in agreement with the radio dispersion measure.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- July 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-637X/790/1/51
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1404.1532
- Bibcode:
- 2014ApJ...790...51M
- Keywords:
-
- gamma rays: stars;
- pulsars: general;
- pulsars: individual: PSR J1741-2054;
- stars: neutron;
- X-rays: stars;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted by the Astrophysical Journal