2019A&A...623A..90S

Pinpointing a pulsar in its parent supernova remnant (SNR) or resulting pulsar wind nebula (PWN) is key to understanding its formation history and the pulsar wind mechanism, yet only about half the SNRs and PWNe appear associated with a pulsar. Our aim was to find the pulsars in a sample of eight known and new SNRs and PWNe. Using the LOFAR radio telescope at 150MHz, each source was observed for 3h. We covered the entire remnants where needed, by employing many tied-array beams to tile out even the largest objects. For objects with a confirmed point source or PWN we constrained our search to those lines of sight. We identified a promising radio pulsar candidate towards PWN G141.2+5.0. The candidate, PSR J0337+61, has a period of 94ms and a DM of 226pc/cm³. We re-observed the source twice with increased sensitivities of 30% and 50%, but did not re-detect it. It thus remains unconfirmed. For our other sources we obtain very stringent upper limits of 0.8-3.1mJy at 150MHz. Generally, we can rule out that the pulsars travelled out of the remnant. From these strict limits we conclude our non-detections towards point sources and PWNe are the result of beaming and propagation effects. Some of the remaining SNRs should host a black hole rather than a neutron star.