Open AccessXMM‐NewtonObservations of PSR B1706−44
Author(s) -
K. McGowan,
Silvia Zane,
M. Cropper,
J. A. Kennea,
F. Cordova,
C. Ho,
T. Sasseen,
W. T. Vestrand
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/379787
Subject(s) - physics , neutron star , astrophysics , black body radiation , pulsar , power law , superfluidity , photon , spectral line , substructure , thermal , astronomy , radiation , nuclear physics , optics , statistics , mathematics , structural engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering , meteorology
We report on the XMM-Newton observations of the young, 102 ms pulsar PSRB1706-44. We have found that both a blackbody plus power-law and a magnetizedatmospheric model plus power-law provide an excellent fit to the EPIC spectra.The two scenarios are therefore indistinguishable on a statistical basis,although we are inclined to prefer the latter on physical grounds. In thiscase, assuming a source distance of ~2.3 kpc, the size of the regionresponsible for the thermal emission is R~13 km, compatible with the surface ofa neutron star. A comparison of the surface temperature of PSR B1706-44obtained from this fit with cooling curves favor a medium mass neutron starwith M~1.45 solar masses or M~1.59 solar masses, depending on two differentmodels of proton superfluidity in the interior. The large collecting area ofXMM-Newton allows us to resolve a substructure in the broad soft X-raymodulation detected by Chandra, revealing the presence of two separate peakswith pulsed fractions of 7 +/- 4% and 15 +/- 3%, respectively.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
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