Multi-wavelength observations of the radio Magnetar PSR J1622–4950 and discovery of its possibly associated supernova remnant

GE Anderson, BM Gaensler, PO Slane…�- The Astrophysical�…, 2012 - iopscience.iop.org
GE Anderson, BM Gaensler, PO Slane, N Rea, DL Kaplan, B Posselt, L Levin, S Johnston
The Astrophysical Journal, 2012iopscience.iop.org
We present multi-wavelength observations of the radio magnetar PSR J1622–4950 and its
environment. Observations of PSR J1622–4950 with Chandra (in 2007 and 2009) and XMM
(in 2011) show that the X-ray flux of PSR J1622–4950 has decreased by a factor of∼ 50
over 3.7 years, decaying exponentially with a characteristic time of τ= 360�11 days. This
behavior identifies PSR J1622–4950 as a possible addition to the small class of transient
magnetars. The X-ray decay likely indicates that PSR J1622–4950 is recovering from an X�…
Abstract
We present multi-wavelength observations of the radio magnetar PSR J1622–4950 and its environment. Observations of PSR J1622–4950 with Chandra (in 2007 and 2009) and XMM (in 2011) show that the X-ray flux of PSR J1622–4950 has decreased by a factor of∼ 50 over 3.7 years, decaying exponentially with a characteristic time of τ= 360�11 days. This behavior identifies PSR J1622–4950 as a possible addition to the small class of transient magnetars. The X-ray decay likely indicates that PSR J1622–4950 is recovering from an X-ray outburst that occurred earlier in 2007, before the 2007 Chandra observations. Observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array show strong radio variability, including a possible radio flaring event at least one and a half years after the 2007 X-ray outburst that may be a direct result of this X-ray event. Radio observations with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope reveal that PSR J1622–4950 is 8'southeast of a diffuse radio arc, G333. 9+ 0.0, which appears non-thermal in nature and which could possibly be a previously undiscovered supernova remnant (SNR). If G333. 9+ 0.0 is an SNR then the estimates of its size and age, combined with the close proximity and reasonable implied velocity of PSR J1622–4950, suggest that these two objects could be physically associated.
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