A RADIO-LOUD MAGNETAR IN X-RAY QUIESCENCE
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Mail H39, P.O. Box 218, VIC 3122 (Australia)
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester, Alan Turing Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
- INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, localita Poggio dei Pini, strada 54, 09012 Capoterra (Italy)
- Australia Telescope National Facility-CSIRO, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia)
- Institut de Ciencies de l'Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, Facultat de Ciencies, Torre C5-parell, 08193 Barcelona (Spain)
As part of a survey for radio pulsars with the Parkes 64 m telescope, we have discovered PSR J1622-4950, a pulsar with a 4.3 s rotation period. Follow-up observations show that the pulsar has the highest inferred surface magnetic field of the known radio pulsars (B {approx}3 x 10{sup 14} G), and it exhibits significant timing noise and appears to have an inverted spectrum. Unlike the vast majority of the known pulsar population, PSR J1622-4950 appears to switch off for many hundreds of days and even in its on-state exhibits extreme variability in its flux density. Furthermore, the integrated pulse profile changes shape with epoch. All of these properties are remarkably similar to the only two magnetars previously known to emit radio pulsations. The position of PSR J1622-4950 is coincident with an X-ray source that, unlike the other radio pulsating magnetars, was found to be in quiescence. We conclude that our newly discovered pulsar is a magnetar-the first to be discovered via its radio emission.
- OSTI ID:
- 21452802
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 721, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/721/1/L33; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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