Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/93717

Title

A radio-loud magnetar in x-ray quiescence

Author(s)

Levin, Lina;  Bailes, Matthew;  Bates, Samuel;  Bhat, N. D. Ramesh;  Burgay, Marta;  Burke-Spolaor, Sarah;  D'Amico, Nichi;  Johnston, Simon;  Keith, Michael;  Kramer, Michael;  Milia, Sabrina;  Possenti, Andrea;  Rea, Nanda;  Stappers, Ben;  van Straten, Willem

Abstract

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 ~3 × 1014 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.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing

Source

Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 721, no. 1 (Sep 2010), pp. L33-L37

Publication year

2010

Keyword(s)

1E 1547.0-5408;  Magnetars;  Neutrons;  PSR J1622-4950;  Pulsars;  Stars;  XTE J1810-197

Publisher

IOP Publishing

ISSN

2041-8205

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/721/1/L33

Copyright

Copyright © 2010 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. The American Astronomical Society does not allow institutions to archive either the accepted manuscript or the published version of the article. However, you can find an earlier version of the full text here: http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.1052.

Peer reviewed