PSR J1838–0537: Discovery of a young, energetic gamma-ray pulsar
- Max Planck Inst. for Gravitation Physics and Leibniz Univ., Hannover (Germany)
- Max Planck Inst. for Radio Astronomy, Bonn (Germany)
- Max Planck Inst. for Gravitation Physics and Leibniz Univ., Hannover (Germany); Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
- Max Planck Inst. for Radio Astronomy, Bonn (Germany); Univ. of Manchester (United Kingdom). Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
- Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
- National Inst. for Astrophysics (INAF), Milano (Italy). Inst. of Space Physics and Astrophysics
- Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)
- Stanford Univ. and SLAC National Accelerator Lab., CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Charlottesville, VA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Santa Cruz Inst. for Particle Physics
Here, we report the discovery of PSR J1838–0537, a gamma-ray pulsar found through a blind search of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). The pulsar has a spin frequency of 6.9 Hz and a frequency derivative of –2.2 × 10–11 Hz s–1, implying a young characteristic age of 4970 yr and a large spin-down power of 5.9 × 1036 erg s–1. Follow-up observations with radio telescopes detected no pulsations; thus PSR J1838–0537 appears radio-quiet as viewed from Earth. In 2009 September the pulsar suffered the largest glitch so far seen in any gamma-ray-only pulsar, causing a relative increase in spin frequency of about 5.5 × 10–6. After the glitch, during a putative recovery period, the timing analysis is complicated by the sparsity of the LAT photon data, the weakness of the pulsations, and the reduction in average exposure from a coincidental, contemporaneous change in LAT's sky-survey observing pattern. Furthermore, the pulsar's sky position is coincident with the spatially extended TeV source HESS J1841–055 detected by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). Finally, the inferred energetics suggest that HESS J1841–055 contains a pulsar wind nebula powered by the pulsar.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Contributing Organization:
- Fermi LAT Collaboration
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 1356720
- Journal Information:
- The Astrophysical Journal. Letters, Vol. 755, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-8205
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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