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Chandra observations of black widow pulsars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2013

P. Gentile ,
M. McLaughlin ,
M. Roberts ,
F. Camilo ,
J. Hessels ,
M. Kerr ,
S. Ransom ,
P. Ray  and
I. Stairs
P. Gentile
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
M. McLaughlin
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
M. Roberts
Affiliation:
Eureka Scientic, Inc., Oakland, California 94602, USA
F. Camilo
Affiliation:
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
J. Hessels
Affiliation:
ASTRON, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
M. Kerr
Affiliation:
W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
S. Ransom
Affiliation:
NRAO, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22093, USA
P. Ray
Affiliation:
Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5352, USA
I. Stairs
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1Canada
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Abstract

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We describe the first X-ray observations of binary millisecond pulsars PSR J0023+0923, J1810+1744, J2215+5135, and J2256−1024. All are Fermi gamma-ray sources and three are ‘black-widow’ pulsars, with companions of mass < 0.1 M⊙. Data were taken using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and covered a full binary orbit for each pulsar. PSRs J2215+5135 and J2256−1024, show significant orbital variability and X-ray flux minima coinciding with eclipses seen at radio wavelengths. This is consistent with intrabinary shock emission characteristic of black-widow pulsars. The other two pulsars, PSRs J0023+0923 and J1810+1744, do not demonstrate significant variability, but are fainter than the other two sources. Spectral fits yield power-law indices that range from 1.4 to 2.3 and blackbody temperatures in the hundreds of eV. The spectrum for PSR J2215+5135 shows a significant hard X-ray component (41% of counts are above 2 keV), which is additional evidence for the presence of intrabinary shock emission.

Keywords

pulsars: generalX-rays: binaries
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 8 , Symposium S291: Neutron Stars and Pulsars: Challenges and Opportunities after 80 years , August 2012 , pp. 389 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013

References

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