paper

The Expansion and Radio Spectral Index of G21.5-0.9: Is PSR J1833-1034 the Youngest Pulsar?

arXiv:0802.0152 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13058.x

Abstract

We report on new 5-GHz VLA radio observations of the pulsar-powered supernova remnant G21.5-0.9. These observations have allowed us to make a high-quality radio image of this remnant with a resolution of ~0.7". It has a filamentary structure similar to that seen in the Crab Nebula. Radio structure suggestive of the torus seen around the Crab pulsar is tentatively identified. We also compared the new image with one taken ~15 yr earlier at 1.5 GHz, both to find the expansion speed of the remnant and to make a spectral index image. Between 1991 and 2006, we find that the average expansion rate of the remnant is 0.11 +/- 0.02 %/year, corresponding, for a distance of 5 kpc, to a speed of 910 +/- 160 km/s wrt. the centre of the nebula. Assuming undecelerated expansion, this expansion speed implies that the age of G21.5-0.9 is 870 (+200,-150) yr, which makes PSR J1833-1034 one of the youngest, if not the youngest, known pulsars in the Galaxy.

Accepted for publication in the MNRAS. 8 pages; For an animation showing the expansion of G21.5-0.9, see http://www.yorku.ca/bartel/G21new.html . (The only change in V3 of the preprint is to add the above url)

References in corpus (2)

Cited by in corpus (21)