X-ray emission from isolated neutron stars

Mereghetti, S.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-17251-9_29

Cited by 32 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 161 publications

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“…Earlier convincing results of this detection of surface emission came from ROSAT observations of isolated pulsars (seeÖgelman 1995; Becker & Trümper 1997 for a summary of ROSAT results). Subsequently, the ensemble of such sources has been significantly increased through observations with modern instruments (see Page et al 2009 for a discussion of the most recent observations; see also the reviews by van Mereghetti 2011a).…”

Section: Isolated Cooling Neutron Starsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface emission from neutron stars and implications for the physics of their interiors

Özel

2012

Rep. Prog. Phys.

124

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Abstract. Neutron stars are associated with diverse physical phenomena that take place in conditions characterized by ultrahigh densities as well as intense gravitational, magnetic, and radiation fields. Understanding the properties and interactions of matter in these regimes remains one of the challenges in compact object astrophysics. Photons emitted from the surfaces of neutron stars provide direct probes of their structure, composition, and magnetic fields. In this review, I discuss in detail the physics that governs the properties of emission from the surfaces of neutron stars and their various observational manifestations. I present the constraints on neutron star radii, core and crust composition, and magnetic field strength and topology obtained from studies of their broadband spectra, evolution of thermal luminosity, and the profiles of pulsations that originate on their surfaces.

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Section: Isolated Cooling Neutron Starsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface emission from neutron stars and implications for the physics of their interiors

Özel

2012

Rep. Prog. Phys.

124

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“…The magnetars are young objects as implied by their characteristic ages τ c ∼ 10 4 years and about half of them being associated with SNRs. X-ray dim isolated neutron stars (XDINSs), or sometimes called "magnificent seven", are the 7 nearby neutron stars identified through their thermal X-ray emission (Özel 2013;Potekhin et al 2015;Mereghetti 2011) with luminosities of order L X ∼ 10 30 − 10 32 erg s −1 (see Haberl 2007;Kaplan 2008;Turolla 2009, for reviews). They have a period range similar to the AXP/SGR family (Hambaryan et al 2017), but are typically older, with characteristic ages τ c ∼ 10 5 − 10 6 years and kinematic ages of a few 10 6 years (Tetzlaff et al 2010(Tetzlaff et al , 2011(Tetzlaff et al , 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classification of pulsars with Dirichlet process Gaussian mixture model

İnce

Kamasak

et al. 2020

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Young isolated neutron stars (INS) most commonly manifest themselves as rotationally powered pulsars (RPPs) which involve conventional radio pulsars as well as gammaray pulsars (GRPs) and rotating radio transients (RRATs). Some other young INS families manifest themselves as anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and soft gammaray repeaters (SGRs) which are commonly accepted as magnetars, i.e. magnetically powered neutron stars with decaying super-strong fields. Yet some other young INS are identified as central compact objects (CCOs) and X-ray dim isolated neutron stars (XDINSs) which are cooling objects powered by their thermal energy. Older pulsars, as a result of a previous long episode of accretion from a companion, manifest themselves as millisecond pulsars and more commonly appear in binary systems. We use Dirichlet process Gaussian mixture model (DPGMM), an unsupervised machine learning algorithm, for analyzing the distribution of these pulsar families in the parameter space of period and period derivative. We compare the average values of the characteristic age, magnetic dipole field strength, surface temperature and transverse velocity of all discovered clusters. We verify that DPGMM is robust and provides hints for inferring relations between different classes of pulsars. We discuss the implications of our findings for the magneto-thermal spin evolution models and fallback discs.

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“…Interestingly, it is at high energies that the neutron star phenomenology is revealed in all its complexity, with the discovery of peculiar classes of isolated neutron stars (INSs) not detected in the radio regime (see Kaspi 2010;Mereghetti 2011;Harding 2013, for an overview). These include most of the magnetars -anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) -the central compact objects (CCOs) in supernova remnants and Based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and NASA (Target RX J1605.3+3249, obsid 0671620101).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

XMM-Newtonreveals a candidate period for the spin of the “Magnificent Seven” neutron star RX J1605.3+3249

Pires¹,

Haberl²,

Zavlin³

et al. 2014

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Context. The group of seven thermally emitting isolated neutron stars (INSs) discovered by ROSAT and known as the "Magnificent Seven" (M7) is unique among the various neutron star populations. Crustal heating by means of magnetic field decay and an evolutionary link with magnetars may explain why these objects rotate more slowly and have higher thermal luminosities and magnetic field intensities than standard rotation-powered pulsars of similar age. Aims. The third brightest INS, RX J1605.3+3249, is the only object amidst the seven still lacking a detected periodicity. The source spectrum, while purely thermal with no significant magnetospheric emission, is complex and displays both narrow and broad absorption features that can potentially be used to constrain the surface component of the magnetic field, as well as the mass-to-radius ratio of the neutron star. Methods. We observed the source with the XMM-Newton Observatory for 60 ks aiming at unveiling the neutron star rotation rate and investigating its spectrum in detail. We confront our results with previous observations of the source and discuss its properties in the context of the M7 as a group and of the known population of Galactic INSs. Results. A periodic signal at P = 3.387864(16) s, most likely the neutron star spin period, is detected at the 4σ confidence level. The amplitude of the modulation was found to be energy dependent and is more significantly detected when the timing search is restricted to photons with energy higher than ∼0.5 keV. The coherent combination of the new data with a past XMM-Newton EPIC-pn observation of the source constrains the pulsar spin-down rate at the 2σ confidence level,ν ∼ −1.39 × 10 −13 Hz s −1 , implying a dipolar magnetic field of B dip ∼ 7.4 × 10 13 G. If confirmed, RX J1605.3+3249 would be the neutron star with the highest dipolar field amongst the M7. The spectrum of the source shows evidence of a cool blackbody component, as well as for the presence of two broad absorption features. Furthermore, high-resolution spectroscopy with the RGS cameras confirms the presence of a narrow absorption feature at energy ∼0.57 keV in the co-added spectrum of the source, also seen in other thermally emitting isolated neutron stars. Conclusions. Phase-resolved spectroscopy, as well as a dedicated observing campaign aimed at determining a timing solution, will give invaluable constraints on the neutron star geometry and will allow one to confirm the high value of spin down, which would place the source closer to a magnetar than any other M7 INS.

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X-ray emission from isolated neutron stars

Cited by 32 publications

References 161 publications

Surface emission from neutron stars and implications for the physics of their interiors

Surface emission from neutron stars and implications for the physics of their interiors

Classification of pulsars with Dirichlet process Gaussian mixture model

XMM-Newtonreveals a candidate period for the spin of the “Magnificent Seven” neutron star RX J1605.3+3249

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