DISCOVERY OF A HIGHLY ENERGETIC PULSAR ASSOCIATED WITH IGR J14003-6326 IN THE YOUNG UNCATALOGED GALACTIC SUPERNOVA REMNANT G310.6-1.6
- AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC), CNRS-UMR 7164, Universite Paris 7 Denis Diderot, F-75205 Paris (France)
- Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027 (United States)
- CEA Saclay, Laboratoire AIM, CNRS-UMR 7158, DSM/IRFU/Service d'Astrophysique, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
- Space Sciences Laboratory, 7 Gauss Way, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450 (United States)
We report the discovery of 31.18 ms pulsations from the INTEGRAL source IGR J14003-6326 using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). This pulsar is most likely associated with the bright Chandra X-ray point source lying at the center of G310.6-1.6, a previously unrecognized Galactic composite supernova remnant (SNR) with a bright central non-thermal radio and X-ray nebula, taken to be the pulsar wind nebula (PWN). PSR J1400-6325 is amongst the most energetic rotation-powered pulsars in the Galaxy, with a spin-down luminosity of E-dot = 5.1x10{sup 37} erg s{sup -1}. In the rotating dipole model, the surface dipole magnetic field strength is B{sub s} = 1.1 x 10{sup 12} G and the characteristic age {tau}{sub c{identical_to}}P/2 P-dot = 12.7 kyr. The high spin-down power is consistent with the hard spectral indices of the pulsar and the nebula of 1.22 {+-} 0.15 and 1.83 {+-} 0.08, respectively, and a 2-10 keV flux ratio F {sub PWN}/F {sub PSR} {approx} 8. Follow-up Parkes observations resulted in the detection of radio emission at 10 and 20 cm from PSR J1400-6325 at a dispersion measure of {approx}560 cm{sup -3} pc, which implies a relatively large distance of 10 {+-} 3 kpc. However, the resulting location off the Galactic plane of {approx}280 pc would be much larger than the typical thickness of the molecular disk, and we argue that G310.6-1.6 lies at a distance of {approx}7 kpc. There is no gamma-ray counterpart to the nebula or pulsar in the Fermi data published so far. A multi-wavelength study of this new composite SNR, from radio to very high-energy gamma rays, suggests a young ({approx}<10{sup 3} yr) system formed by a sub-energetic ({approx}<10{sup 50} erg), low ejecta mass (M {sub ej} {approx} 3 M {sub sun}) supernova explosion that occurred in a low-density environment (n {sub 0{approx}} 0.01 cm{sup -3}).
- OSTI ID:
- 21451099
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 716, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/716/1/663; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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