Swift monitoring of the central X-ray source in RCW 103

Abstract

The X-ray source 1E 161348-5055 lies at the centre of the 2-kyr-old supernova remnant RCW 103. Owing to its 24-ks modulation, orders-of-magnitude flux variability over a few months/years, and lack of an obvious optical counterpart, 1E 161348-5055 defies assignment to any known class of X-ray sources. Starting from April 2006, Swift observed 1E 161348-5055 with its X-ray telescope for 2 ks approximately once per month. During the five years covered, the source has remained in a quiescent state, with an average observed flux of 1.7e-12 erg/cm^2/s (1-10 keV), about 20 times lower than the historical maximum attained in its 1999-2000 outburst. The long time-span of the Swift data allows us to obtain an accurate measure of the period of 1E 161348-5055 [P = 24030.42(2) s] and to derive the first upper limit on its period derivative (|dP/dt| < 1.6e-9 s/s at 3 sigma).

6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Figures 2,3 and 5 in reduced quality

References in corpus (6)

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• Magnetars: a short review and some sparse considerations
• Evidence for the magnetar nature of 1E 161348-5055 in RCW 103
• Evidence for an abundant old population of Galactic ultra long period magnetars and implications for fast radio bursts
• Probing the neutron star spin evolution in the young SMC Be/X-ray binary SXP 1062
• SXP 1062: an Evolved Magnetar in a BeXB ?
• Periodic signals from the Circinus region: two new cataclysmic variables and the ultraluminous X-ray source candidate GC X-1
• Rotational evolution of magnetars in the presence of a fallback disk
• Ejector and propeller spin-down: How might a superluminous supernova millisecond magnetar become the 6.67 hr pulsar in RCW103
• Chandra Observations of SNR RCW 103
• Near Infrared Counterpart of 2E 1613.5-5053, the Central Source in Supernova Remnant RCW 103
• A new look at the origin of the 6.67\,hr period X-ray pulsar 1E~161348-5055
• The likely Fermi Detection of the Supernova Remnant RCW 103
• Central compact objects in Kes 79 and RCW 103 as "hidden" magnetars with crustal activity
• Gazing at the ultra-slow magnetar in RCW 103 with NuSTAR and Swift
• Strongly magnetized pulsars: explosive events and evolution
• Long X-ray flares from the central source in RCW 103
• A scenario of the formation of isolated X-ray pulsars with anomalously long period
• Unifying neutron star sub-populations in the supernova fallback accretion model