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Published May 20, 2012 | Published
Journal Article Open

Multi-wavelength Observations of the Radio Magnetar PSR J1622–4950 and Discovery of Its Possibly Associated Supernova Remnant

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.

Additional Information

© 2012 American Astronomical Society. Received 2011 September 15; accepted 2012 March 9; published 2012 May 4. We thank the referee for their careful reading of the manuscript and constructive suggestions. G.E.A acknowledges the support of an Australian Postgraduate Award. B.M.G. acknowledges the support of an Australian Laureate Fellowship. P.O.S. acknowledges partial support from NASA Contract NAS8-03060. N.R. is supported by a Ramon y Cajal Research Fellowship to CSIC, and grants AYA2009-07391 and SGR2009-811, as well as the Formosa Program TW2010005. J.J.D was supported by NASA contract NAS8-39073 to the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC). P.E. acknowledges financial support from the Autonomous Region of Sardinia through a research grant under the program PO Sardegna FSE 2007–2013, L.R. 7/2007. D.T.H.S. acknowledges an STFC Advanced Fellowship. Support for this work was also provided by NASA through Chandra Award Number GO9-0155X issued by the CXC, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of NASA. This research makes use of data obtained with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and software provided by the CXC in the application packages CIAO. This work is based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and NASA. MOST is operated with the support of the Australian Research Council and the Science Foundation for Physics within the University of Sydney. ATCA and Parkes, part of the Australia Telescope, are funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. Observing time on the 6.5 m Baade Magellan Telescope, located at Las Campanas Observatory, was allocated through the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. 2MASS is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the IPAC/Caltech, funded by the NASA and NFS. GLIMPSE survey data are part of the Spitzer Legacy Program. The Spitzer Space Telescope is operated by the JPL/Caltech under a contract with NASA. This research has made use of NASA's Astrophysics Data System. Facilities: ASCA, ATCA, CXO (ACIS), Magellan:Baade (PANIC), Molonglo Observatory, Parkes, XMM (EPIC)

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August 22, 2023
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