We carried out deep optical observations of the middle-aged $γ$-ray pulsar PSR J1741-2054 with the Very Large Telescope (VLT). We identified two objects, of magnitudes $m_v=23.10\pm0.05$ and $m_v=25.32\pm0.08$, at positions consistent with the very accurate Chandra coordinates of the pulsar, the faintest of which is more likely to be its counterpart. From the VLT images we also detected the known bow-shock nebula around PSR J1741-2054. The nebula is displaced by $\sim 0\farcs9$ (at the $3σ$ confidence level) with respect to its position measured in archival data, showing that the shock propagates in the interstellar medium consistently with the pulsar proper motion. Finally, we could not find evidence of large-scale extended optical emission associated with the pulsar wind nebula detected by Chandra, down to a surface brightness limit of $\sim 28.1$ magnitudes arcsec$^{-2}$. Future observations are needed to confirm the optical identification of PSR J1741-2054 and characterise the spectrum of its counterpart.
We used the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias to search for the optical counterparts to four isolated $γ$-ray pulsars, all detected in the X-rays by either \xmm\ or \chan\ but not yet in the optical. Three of them are middle-aged pulsars -- PSR\, J1846+0919 (0.36 Myr), PSR\, J2055+2539 (1.2 Myr), PSR\, J2043+2740 (1.2 Myr) -- and one, PSR\, J1907+0602, is a young pulsar (19.5 kyr). For both PSR\, J1907+0602 and PSR\, J2055+2539 we found one object close to the pulsar position. However, in both cases such an object cannot be a viable candidate counterpart to the pulsar. For PSR\, J1907+0602, becau…
Recent gamma-ray observations of middle-aged supernova remnants revealed a mysterious broken power-law spectrum. Using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulations, we show that the interaction between a supernova blast wave and interstellar clouds formed by thermal instability generates multiple reflected shocks. The typical Mach numbers of the reflected shocks are shown to be M ~ 2 depending on the density contrast between the diffuse intercloud gas and clouds. These secondary shocks can further energize cosmic-ray particles originally accelerated at the blast-wave shock. This "two-ste…
Electrons/positrons produced in a pulsar magnetosphere emit synchrotron radiation, which is widely believed as the origin of the non-thermal X-ray emission detected from pulsars. Particles are produced by curvature photons emitted from accelerated particles in the magnetosphere. These curvature photons are detected as pulsed $γ$-ray emissions from pulsars with age $\lesssim10^6$ yr. Using $γ$-ray observations and analytical model, we impose severe constraints on the synchrotron radiation as a mechanism of the non-thermal X-ray emission. In most middle-aged pulsars ($\sim10^5-10^6$ yr) which ph…
The Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite opened a new era for pulsar astronomy, detecting gamma-ray pulsations from more than 60 pulsars, ~40% of which are not seen at radio wavelengths. One of the most interesting sources discovered by LAT is PSR J0357+3205, a radio-quiet, middle-aged (tau_C ~0.5 Myr) pulsar standing out for its very low spin-down luminosity (Erot ~6x10^33 erg/s), indeed the lowest among non-recycled gamma-ray pulsars. A deep X-ray observation with Chandra (0.5-10 keV), coupled with sensitive optical/infrared ground-based images of the field, allowed us to i…
Recent gamma-ray observations show that middle aged supernova remnants (SNRs) interacting with molecular clouds (MCs) can be sources of both GeV and TeV emission. Based on the MC association, two scenarios have been proposed to explain the observed gamma-ray emission. In one, energetic cosmic ray (CR) particles escape from the SNR and then illuminate nearby MCs, producing gamma-ray emission, while the other involves direct interaction between the SNR and MC. In the direct interaction scenario, re-acceleration of pre-existing CRs in the ambient medium is investigated while particles injected fr…
Supernova remnants (SNRs) are the primary candidate of Galactic cosmic-ray accelerators. It is still an open issue when and how young SNRs, which typically exhibit strong synchrotron X-rays and GeV and TeV gamma-rays, undergo the state transition to middle-aged SNRs dominated by thermal X-rays and GeV gamma-rays. The SNR N132D in the Large Magellanic Cloud is an ideal target to study such a transition, exhibiting bright X-rays and gamma-rays, and with the expected age of ~2500 yrs. In this paper we present results of NuSTAR and Suzaku spectroscopy. We reveal that N132D has a nearly equilibrium…
Constraining Cosmic-Ray Acceleration and Escape in Middle-Aged Supernova Remnants with GeV-TeV Gamma-Ray Observations
Southwest Jiaotong University（西南交通大学）；Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院高能物理研究所）；Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）
In this paper, we report the detection of ejecta in the middle-aged Galactic supernova remnant G296.1-0.5 with the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer onboard the Suzaku satellite. The spectra of three lobes, north, southeast and southwest and inter-lobe regions, consist of soft (0.3-2.0 keV) emission originated from non-equilibrium ionization plasma. In north, southeast and inter-lobe regions, the thermal emission can be represented by a one-component, in southwest region it can be represented by two- component non-equilibrium ionization (VNEI) model. The spectra of studied regions have lines of N, O,…
Recent data reported by the PAMELA and ATIC experiments, as well as cosmic ray lepton results from FERMI and H.E.S.S. collaborations sparked a series of papers explaining these results either by contributions of electron positron pairs to the local interstellar cosmic ray (CR) spectrum by dark matter (DM) or pulsars. Focusing here on pulsars, we argue that at the present, our knowledge about particle acceleration at pulsars as well as of the local Galactic CR propagation is still limited, i.e. the recent results for CR electrons and positrons constrain pulsar and propagation models. We will th…
The detection of extended TeV $γ$-ray emission (dubbed "TeV halos") from Geminga and Monogem pulsars by HAWC collaboration implies that the halo-like morphologies around middle-aged pulsars may be common. The $γ$-rays above 10 TeV are thought to arise from inverse Compton (IC) scattering of relativistic electrons/positrons in the pulsar halos off cosmic microwave background photons. In the meanwhile, these electrons and positrons can produce X-ray synchrotron emission in the interstellar magnetic field, resulting in a diffuse emission in the X-ray band (namely X-ray halos). Here, we study the …
We report on the energy-resolved timing and phase-resolved spectral analysis of X-ray emission from PSR J0659+1414 observed with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR. We find that the new data rule out the previously suggested model of the phase-dependent spectrum as a three-component (2 blackbodies + power-law) continuum, which shows large residuals between $0.3-0.7$ keV. Fitting neutron star atmosphere models or several blackbodies to the spectrum does not provide a better description of the spectrum, and requires spectral model components with unrealistically large emission region sizes. The fits improve …
We argue that the cosmic ray positron excess observed in ATIC-2, Fermi LAT, PAMELA, HESS and recently in the precision AMS-02 experiment can be attributed to the production in a local, middle-aged supernova remnant (SNR). Using the prediction of our model of cosmic ray acceleration in SNR we estimate that the SNR responsible for the observed positron excess is located between 250 and 320pc from the Sun and is 170-380 kyear old. The most probable candidate for such a source is the SNR which gave birth to the well-known Geminga pulsar, but is no longer visible. Other contenders are also discusse…
We present results of the spectral analysis of the X-ray emission from the middle-aged Fermi pulsar J1741$-$2054 using all Chandra archival data collected in 2010 and 2013. We confirm early findings by Romani et al. 2010 that the pulsar spectrum contains a thermal emission component. The component is best described by the blackbody model with the temperature $\approx$ 60 eV and the emitting area radius $\approx$ 17 $D_{\rm kpc}$ km. The thermal emission likely originates from the entire surface of the cooling neutron star if the distance to the pulsar is $\approx$ 0.8 kpc. The latter is suppor…
We compare the $γ$-ray spectra from 10 middle-aged supernova remnants (SNRs), which are interacting with molecular clouds (MCs), with the model prediction from widely used escaping scenario and direct interaction scenario. It is found that the $γ$-ray data is inconsistent with the escaping scenario statistically, as it predicts a diversity of spectral shape which is not observed. The inconsistency suggests that the free escape boundary adopted in the escaping model is not a good approximation, which challenges our understanding of cosmic ray (CR) escaping in SNRs. In addition, we show that amb…
PSRB1055-52 is a middle-aged (~535 kyr) radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray pulsar showing X-ray thermal emission from the neutron star (NS) surface. A candidate optical counterpart to PSRB1055-52 was proposed by Mignani and coworkers based on Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations performed in 1996, in one spectral band only. We report on HST observations of this field carried out in 2008, in four spectral bands. The astrometric and photometric analyses of these data confirm the identification of the proposed candidate as the pulsar's optical counterpart. Similarly to other middle-aged pulsars, it…
In this work, we compare the $γ$-ray spectra available in literature from 11 middle aged supernova remnants (SNRs) interacting with molecular clouds (MCs). It is found that 5 remnants prefer a smoothly broken power law proton spectrum with similar power law index but different break energy. The rest of the SNRs need updated data to test whether a spectral break is preferred in the proton spectrum. Then we compare the $γ$-ray spectra from all 11 SNRs with the prediction from widely accepted escaping scenario and direct interaction scenario. We show that current $γ$-ray data is inconsistent with…
Recently, gamma-ray halos of a few degree extension have been detected around two middle-aged pulsars, namely, Geminga and PSR B0656+14, by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov observatory (HAWC). The gamma-ray radiation arise from relativistic electrons that escape the pulsar wind nebula and diffuse in the surrounding medium. The diffusion coefficient is found to be significantly lower than the average value in the Galactic disk. If so, given a typical transverse velocity of $300-500{\,\rm km /s}$ for a pulsar, its displacement could be important in shaping the morphology of its gamma-ray halos.…
In a radio search with the Green Bank Telescope of three unidentified low Galactic latitude Fermi-LAT sources, we have discovered the middle-aged pulsar J2030+3641, associated with 1FGL J2030.0+3641 (2FGL J2030.0+3640). Following the detection of gamma-ray pulsations using a radio ephemeris, we have obtained a phase-coherent timing solution based on gamma-ray and radio pulse arrival times that spans the entire Fermi mission. With a rotation period of 0.2 s, spin-down luminosity of 3e34 erg/s, and characteristic age of 0.5 Myr, PSR J2030+3641 is a middle-aged neutron star with spin parameters s…
The nearby, middle-aged PSR B1055-52 has many properties in common with the Geminga pulsar. Motivated by the Geminga's enigmatic and prominent pulsar wind nebula (PWN), we searched for extended emission around PSR B1055-52 with Chandra ACIS. For an energy range 0.3-1 keV, we found a 4 sigma flux enhancement in a 4.9-20 arcsec annulus around the pulsar. There is a slight asymmetry in the emission close, 1.5-4 arcsec, to the pulsar. The excess emission has a luminosity of about 10^{29} erg s^{-1} in an energy range 0.3-8 keV for a distance of 350 pc. Overall, the faint extended emission around P…
We analyze new XMM-Newton and archival Chandra observations of the middle-aged $γ$-ray radio-quiet pulsar J1957+5033. We detect, for the first time, X-ray pulsations with the pulsar spin period of the point-like source coinciding by position with the pulsar. This confirms the pulsar nature of the source. In the 0.15--0.5 keV band, there is a single pulse per period and the pulsed fraction is $\approx18\pm6$ per cent. In this band, the pulsar spectrum is dominated by a thermal emission component that likely comes from the entire surface of the neutron star, while at higher energies ($\gtrsim0.7…
Radio pulsars are often used as clocks in a wide variety of experiments. Imperfections in the clock, known as timing noise, have the potential to reduce the significance of, or even thwart e.g. the attempt to find a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background. We measure the timing noise in a group of 129 mostly middle-aged pulsars (i.e. characterstic ages near 1~Myr) observed with the Parkes radio telescope on a monthly basis since 2014. We examine four different metrics for timing noise, but it remains unclear which, if any, provides the best determination. In spite of this, it is evident …
We investigate the nature of the accelerated particles responsible for the production of the gamma-ray emission observed from the middle-aged supernova remnant (SNR) HB 21. The analysis of more than nine years of Fermi LAT data leads to the observation of an extended emission positionally in agreement with the SNR HB 21. The bulk of this gamma-ray emission is detected from the remnant; photons up to $\sim$10\,GeV show clear evidence of curvature at the lower energies. The remnant is characterized by an extension of $0^{\circ}.83$, that is, 30\% smaller than claimed in previous studies. The inc…
The 840 kyr old pulsar PSR J1957+5033, detected so far only in $γ$- and X-rays, is a nearby and rather cool neutron star with a temperature of 0.2--0.3 MK, a distance of $\la$1 kpc, and a small colour reddening excess $E(B-V) \approx 0.03$. These properties make it an ideal candidate to detect in the optical to get additional constraints on its parameters. We thus performed the first deep optical observations of the pulsar with the 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias in the $g'$ band and found its possible counterpart with $g'=27.63\pm 0.26$. The counterpart candidate position is consistent wi…
We present analytical and numerical studies of models of supernova-remnant (SNR) blast waves expanding into uniform media and interacting with a denser cavity wall, in one spatial dimension. We predict the nonthermal emission from such blast waves: synchrotron emission at radio and X-ray energies, and bremsstrahlung, inverse-Compton emission (from cosmic-microwave-background seed photons, ICCMB), and emission from the decay of $π^0$ mesons produced in inelastic collisions between accelerated ions and thermal gas, at GeV and TeV energies. Accelerated particle spectra are assumed to be power-law…
PSR B0656+14 is a middle-aged pulsar with a characteristic age $τ_c=110$ kyr and spin-down power $\dot{E}= 3.8\times 10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Using Chandra data, we searched for a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) and found evidence of extended emission in a 3.5-15 arcsec annulus around the pulsar, with a luminosity $L_{\rm 0.5-8\,keV}^{\rm ext} \sim 8\times 10^{28}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (at the distance of 288 pc), which is a fraction of $\sim 0.05$ of the non-thermal pulsar luminosity. If the extended emission is mostly due to a PWN, its X-ray efficiency, $η_{\rm pwn} = L_{\rm 0.5-8\,keV}^{\rm ext}/\dot{E} \si…
Population synthesis of Galactic middle-aged pulsar wind nebulae II. Observational signatures of superefficiency
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC)（空间科学研究所）；Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC)（加泰罗尼亚空间研究学院）；Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA)（加泰罗尼亚高级研究学院）；INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿切特里天文台）；Università degli Studi di Firenze（佛罗伦萨大学）；INFN - Sezione di Firenze（意大利国家核物理研究所佛罗伦萨分部）
Despite their importance, a detailed understanding of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) remains elusive. X-ray measurements of the element distributions in supernova remnants (SNRs) offer important clues for understanding the explosion and nucleosynthesis mechanisms for SNe Ia. However, it is challenging to observe the entire ejecta mass in X-rays for young SNRs, because the central ejecta may not have been heated by the reverse shock yet. Here we present over 200 kilosecond Chandra observations of the Type Ia SNR G344.7-0.1, whose age is old enough for the reverse shock to have reached the SNR cent…
Recently, gamma-ray telescopes AGILE and Fermi observed several middle-aged supernova remnants (SNRs) interacting with molecular clouds. It is likely that their gamma rays arise from the decay of neutral pions produced by the inelastic collision between cosmic rays (CRs) and nucleons, which suggests that SNRs make the bulk of Galactic CRs. In this letter, we provide the analytical solution of the distribution of CRs that have escaped from a finite-size region, which naturally explains observed broken power-law spectra of the middle-aged SNRs. In addition, the typical value of the break energy …
Extended gamma-ray emission, interpreted as halos formed by the inverse-Compton scattering of ambient photons by electron-positron pairs, is observed toward a number of middle-aged pulsars. The physical origin and actual commonness of the phenomenon in the Galaxy remain unclear. The conditions of pair confinement seem extreme compared to what can be achieved in recent theoretical models. We searched for scenarios minimizing as much as possible the extent and magnitude of diffusion suppression in the halos in J0633+1746 and B0656+14, and explored the implications on the local positron flux if t…
The number of known PWNe has recently increased considerably, and the majority of them are now middle-age objects. Recent studies have shown a clear correlation of both X-ray luminosity and size with the PWN age, but fail in providing a thorough explanation of the observed trends. Here I propose a different approach to these effects, based on the hypothesis that the observed trends do not simply reproduce the evolution of a "typical" PWN, but are a combined effect of PWNe evolving under different ambient conditions, the leading parameter being the ambient medium density. Using a simple analyti…
We report the current status of the observations of supernova remnants (SNRs) with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, focusing on middle-aged SNRs that appear to be interacting with molecular clouds. Observations with the Fermi LAT in an energy range from 0.2 to ~100 GeV have unveiled the presence of luminous GeV gamma-ray emission in middle-aged SNRs, providing a new insight into the shock-acceleration theory and the origin of galactic cosmic rays. The middle-aged SNRs detected by the Fermi LAT are generally much brighter in GeV than in TeV in terms of …
Population synthesis of Galactic middle-aged pulsar wind nebulae I. Detection prospects for current and future instruments
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC)（空间科学研究所）；Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC)（加泰罗尼亚太空研究学院）；Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA)（加泰罗尼亚高级研究学院）；INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿切特里天文台）；Università degli Studi di Firenze（佛罗伦萨大学）；INFN - Sezione di Firenze（意大利国家核物理研究所佛罗伦萨分部）
The Frequency-dependent Modulation Features of PSR J1948+3540
Xinjiang University（新疆大学）；Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院新疆天文台）；Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Technology (Chinese Academy of Sciences)（中国科学院射电天文与技术重点实验室）；Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Radio Astrophysics（新疆射电天体物理重点实验室）
We report on simultaneous X-ray and radio observations of the radio-mode-switching pulsar PSR B1822-09 with ESA's XMM-Newton and the WSRT, GMRT and Lovell radio telescopes. PSR B1822-09 switches between a radio-bright and radio-quiet mode, and we discovered a relationship between the durations of its modes and a known underlying radio-modulation timescale within the modes. We discovered X-ray (energies 0.2-1.4 keV) pulsations with a broad sinusoidal pulse, slightly lagging the radio main pulse in phase by 0.094 +/- 0.017, with an energy-dependent pulsed fraction varying from ~0.15 at 0.3 keV t…
The middle-aged PSR J0357+3205 is a nearby, radio-quiet, bright gamma-ray pulsar discovered by the Fermi mission. Our previous Chandra observation revealed a huge, very peculiar structure of diffuse X-ray emission, originating at the pulsar position and extending for > 9' on the plane of the sky. To better understand the nature of such a nebula, we have studied the proper motion of the parent pulsar. We performed relative astrometry on Chandra images of the field spanning a time baseline of 2.2 yr, unveiling a significant angular displacement of the pulsar counterpart, corresponding to a prope…
Middle-aged, cooling neutron stars are observed both as relatively rapidly spinning radio pulsars and as more slowly spinning, strongly magnetized isolated neutron stars (INSs), which stand out by their thermal X-ray spectra. The difference between the two classes may be that the INSs initially had much stronger magnetic fields, which decayed. To test this, we used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe 1RXS J072559.8-261229, a possible X-ray counterpart to PSR J0726-2612, which, with its 3.44s period and 3e13G inferred magnetic field strength, is the nearest and least extincted among the po…
The discovery of extended gamma-ray emission toward a number of middle-aged pulsars suggests the possibility of long-lived particle confinement beyond the classical pulsar wind nebula (PWN) stage. How this emerging source class can be extrapolated to a Galactic population remains unclear. We aim to evaluate how pulsar halos fit in existing TeV observations, under the assumption that all middle-aged pulsars develop halos similar to those observed toward the J0633+1746 or B0656+14 pulsars. We modeled the populations of supernova remnants, PWNe, and pulsar halos in the Milky Way. The PWN-halo evo…
Recent X-ray study of middle-aged supernova remnants (SNRs) reveals strong radiative recombination continua (RRCs) associated with overionized plasmas, of which the origin still remains uncertain. We report our discovery of an RRC in the middle-aged SNR 3C 391. If the X-ray spectrum is fitted with a two-temperature plasma model in collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE), residuals of Si XIV Ly alpha line at 2.006 keV, S XVI Ly alpha line at 2.623 keV and the edge of RRC of Si XIII at 2.666 keV are found. The X-ray spectrum is better described by a composite model consisting of a CIE plasma an…
Nearby pulsars have been suggested as sources of $\sim$TeV $e^+/e^-$ Cosmic Ray (CR) excess on Earth. The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) detected extended TeV emission regions in the direction of two nearby middle-aged pulsars, Geminga and PSR B0656+14. By modeling the TeV emission as inverse Compton emission from electron-positron pairs diffusing in the interstellar medium (ISM), the HAWC collaboration derives a diffusion coefficient much smaller than the standard value in the vicinity of the two pulsars, which make them unlikely the origin of the positron excess. We propose…
There have been substantial improvements on Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data and analysis tools since the last analysis on the mid-aged supernova remnant (SNR) Kes 79 (Auchettl et al. 2014). Recent multi-wavelength studies confirmed its interaction with molecular clouds. About $0.36\degr$ north from Kes 79, a powerful pulsar -- PSR J1853+0056 also deserves our attention. In this work, we analyse the 11.5-year Fermi-LAT data to investigate the $γ$-ray feature in/around this complex region. Our result shows a more significant detection ($\sim$34.8$σ$ in 0.1--50 GeV) for this region. With $\…
Observations by HAWC and Milagro have detected spatially extended TeV sources surrounding middle-aged ($t\sim100-400 \,{\rm kyr}$) pulsars like Geminga and PSR B0656+14, which have been named "TeV Halos", representing very extended TeV pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) powered by relatively old pulsars. A few more HAWC-detected sources have been suggested to be TeV halo candidates. In this paper, we search for possible GeV counterparts of three TeV halo candidates with Fermi Large Area Telescopes. We detect a new spatially extended GeV source in the vicinity of the TeV halo candidate 2HWC J1912+099, …
Possible evidence for extended X-ray emission surrounding PSR B0656+14 with eROSITA
Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台暗物质与空间天文重点实验室）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）
CTB 109 is a middle-aged shell-type SNR with bright thermal X-ray emission. We reanalyze the GeV $γ$-ray emission from CTB 109 using thirteen years of Pass 8 data recorded by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT). The $γ$-ray emission of CTB 109 shows a center bright morphology, which is well consistent with its thermal X-ray emission rather than the shell-type structure in the radio band. The spectral analysis shows an evident spectral curvature at $\sim$ several GeV for the GeV $γ$-ray spectrum, which can naturally explain the lack of TeV $γ$-ray emission from CTB 109. Although either a…
PSR J1509-5850 is a middle-aged pulsar with the period P ~ 89 ms, spin-down power Edot = 5.1 x 10^35 erg/s, at a distance of about 3.8 kpc. We report on deep Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of this pulsar and its pulsar wind nebula (PWN). In addition to the previously detected tail extending up to 7' southwest from the pulsar (the southern outflow), the deep images reveal a similarly long, faint diffuse emission stretched toward the north (the northern outflow) and the fine structure of the compact nebula (CN) in the pulsar vicinity. The CN is resolved into two lateral tails and one axi…
We report the results of new XMM-Newton observations of the middle-aged ($\sim$10$^5$ yr) radio pulsar PSR J1740+1000 carried out in 2017-2018. These long pointings ($\sim$530 ks) show that the non-thermal emission, well described by a power-law spectrum with photon index $Γ=1.80\pm0.17$, is pulsed with a $\sim$30% pulsed fraction above 2 keV. The thermal emission can be well fit with the sum of two blackbodies of temperatures $kT_1=70\pm4$ eV, $kT_2=137\pm7$ eV, $R_1=5.4_{-0.9}^{+1.3}$ km and $R_2=0.70_{-0.13}^{+0.15}$ km (for a distance of 1.2 kpc). We found no evidence for absorption lines …
A largely extended X-ray emission was discovered around the pulsar PSR J1357-6429 with the Suzaku deep observations. The pulsar, whose characteristic age is 7.3 kyr, is located within the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1356-645. The extended emission is found to have a 1sigma X-ray size of ~4 arcmin, or ~3 pc at 2.4 kpc, with a small offset from the pulsar. Its X-ray spectrum is well reproduced by a simple power-law model with a photon index of 1.70+0.07-0.06. No significant spatial variation was found for the X-ray photon index as a function of distance from the pulsar. We conclude that the exten…
The close correlation observed between emission state and spin-down rate change of pulsars has many implications both for the magnetospheric physics and the neutron star interior. The middle-aged pulsar PSR J0738$-$4042, which had been observed to display variations in the pulse profile associated with its spin-down rate change due to external effects, is a remarkable example. In this study, based on the 12.5-yr combined public timing data from UTMOST and Parkes, we have detected a new emission-rotation correlation in PSR J0738$-$4042 concurrent with a glitch. A glitch that occurred at MJD 573…
PSR B1259-63 is a middle-aged radio pulsar (P=48 ms, tau=330 kyr, Edot=8.3*10^{35} erg/s) in an eccentric binary (P_orb =3.4 yr, e=0.87) with a high-mass Be companion, SS 2883. We observed the binary near apastron with the Chandra ACIS detector on 2009 May 14 for 28 ks. In addition to the previously studied pointlike source at the pulsar's position, we detected extended emission on the south-southwest side of this source. The pointlike source spectrum can be described by the absorbed power-law model with the hydrogen column density N_H = (2.5+/-0.6)*10^{21} cm^{-2}, photon index Gamma = 1.6+/-…
The escape process of particles accelerated at supernova remnant (SNR) shocks is one of the poorly understood aspects of the shock acceleration theory. Here we adopt a phenomenological approach to study the particle escape and its impact on the gamma-ray spectrum resulting from hadronic collisions both inside and outside of a middle-aged SNR. Under the assumption that in the spatial region immediately outside of the remnant the diffusion coefficient is suppressed with respect to the average Galactic one, we show that a significant fraction of particles are still located inside the SNR long tim…
We present high-sensitivity, wide-band observations (704 to 4032 MHz) of the young to middle-aged radio pulsar J1452-6036, taken at multiple epochs before and, serendipitously, shortly after a glitch occurred on 2019 April 27. We obtained the data using the new ultra-wide-bandwidth low-frequency (UWL) receiver at the Parkes radio telescope, and we used Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques to estimate the glitch parameters robustly. The data from our third observing session began 3 h after the best-fitting glitch epoch, which we constrained to within 4 min. The glitch was of intermediate size, w…
