2021ApJ...911....1A -
Astrophys. J., 911, 1-1 (2021/April-2)
Hubble Space Telescope observations of the old pulsar PSR J0108-1431.
ABRAMKIN V., SHIBANOV Y., MIGNANI R.P. and PAVLOV G.G.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present results of optical-UV observations of the 200 Myr old rotation-powered radio pulsar J0108-1431 with the Hubble Space Telescope. We found a putative candidate for the far-UV (FUV) pulsar counterpart, with the flux density fν = 9.0 ± 3.2 nJy at λ = 1528 Å. The pulsar was not detected, however, at longer wavelengths, with 3σ upper limits of 52, 37, and 87 nJy at λ = 4326, 3355, and 2366 Å, respectively. Assuming that the pulsar counterpart was indeed detected in FUV, and the previously reported marginal U and B detections with the Very Large Telescope were real, the optical-UV spectrum of the pulsar can be described by a power-law model with a nearly flat fν spectrum. Similar to younger pulsars detected in the optical, the slope of the nonthermal spectrum steepens in the X-ray range. The pulsar's luminosity in the 1500-6000 Å wavelength range, L ∼ 1.2 x 1027(d/210 pc)2 erg s–1, corresponds to a high efficiency of conversion of pulsar rotation energy-loss rate {dot}E to the optical-UV radiation, η=L/{dot}E∼(1–6)×10–4, depending on somewhat uncertain values of distance and spectral slope. The brightness temperature of the bulk neutron star surface does not exceed 59,000 K (3σ upper bound), as seen by a distant observer. If we assume that the FUV flux is dominated by a thermal component, then the surface temperature can be in the range of 27,000-55,000 K, Requiring a heating mechanism to operate in old neutron stars.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2021. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Journal keyword(s):
Neutron stars - Pulsars
Simbad objects:
17
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