ASCA Observations of the Young Rotation-powered Pulsars PSR B1046-58 and PSR B1610-50

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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We present a study of ASCA observations of the energetic Galactic pulsars PSR B1046-58 and PSR B1610-50. The wide PSF ( ~ arc-minutes) of ASCA and multiple point sources situated near the pulsar make characterization of the X-ray detection of PSR B1046-58 difficult. Focusing on the superior spatial resolution of the SIS detectors, we have determined a detection significance of 4.6-8.3sigma , the variation resulting from different methods to account for contamination from neighboring sources. Timing analysis of GIS data found no evidence for pulsation, with the pulsed fraction less than 31% at the 90% confidence level. We argue the emission is from a spatially unresolved synchrotron nebula powered by the pulsar. Assuming a canonical powerlaw spectrum and column density, we estimate the unabsorbed 2-10 keV flux to be ~ 3*E(-13) ergs s(-1) cm(-2) . The implied efficiency for conversion of spin-down luminosity to ASCA-band emission is ~ 2*E(-4) , below values predicted by empirical Lx-dot {E} relationships derived from Einstein and ROSAT. We have also examined the 95% position error circle of the previously unidentified gamma -ray source 3EG J1048-5840, which lies entirely within the GIS FOV. The only hard source within the circle is coincident the pulsar. This evidence, coupled with the gamma -ray pulsations from 3EG J1048-5840 reported in a companion presentation by Kaspi et al. strongly suggests PSR B1046-58 as the eighth known pulsar that exhibits gamma -rays. X-ray emission from PSR B1610-50 is not detected. Using similar assumptions as above, the derived 3sigma upper limit for the X-ray flux is 1.4*E(-13) ergs s(-1) cm(-2) , implying a conversion efficiency of spin-down luminosity to ASCA-band emission no greater than ~ 5*E(-4) . The analysis of these observations contradict previous reports of detections of large (tens of arc-minutes) synchrotron nebulae or plerions associated with both pulsars.

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