Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21631505d&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #216, #315.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.895
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We have measured the ultraviolet spectrum of the nearest (d=165 pc) recycled pulsar J0437-4715 with the HST ACS prisms. We found that the far-UV (1100-1600 A) spectrum is consistent with being a Rayleigh-Jean tail of thermal emission emerging from the bulk of the neutron star (NS) surface with the temperature of 100,000 K, for a NS radius of 13 km. Since the surface of a passively cooling NS is expected to become colder than 10,000 K in 10 Myr, our temperature measurement implies a heating mechanism operating in this 5 Gyr old NS. We discuss likely candidates for heating mechanisms, including the exotic possibility of the annihilation of dark matter particles trapped by the pulsar's gravity. We also found a non-thermal (possibly magnetospheric) component, dominating in the 2000--4000 A range. The origin of this component, as well as of a few possible spectral features, remains to be established.
Durant Martin
Kargaltsev Oleg
Pavlov George G.
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