Discovery of the transient magnetar 3XMM J185246.6+003317 near supernova remnant Kesteven 79 with XMM-Newton

Abstract

We report the serendipitous discovery with XMM-Newton that 3XMM J185246.6+003317 is an 11.56 s X-ray pulsar located 1' away from the southern boundary of supernova remnant Kes 79. The spin-down rate of 3XMM J185246.6+003317 is $<1.1\times 10^{-13}$ s s${}^{-1}$, which, together with the long period P=11.558714(2) s, indicates a dipolar surface magnetic field of $<3.6\times 10^{-13}$ G, a characteristic age of $>1.7$ Myr, and a spin-down luminosity of $<2.8\times 10^{30}$ erg s${}^{-1}$. The X-ray spectrum of the source is best-fitted with a resonant Compton scattering model, and can be also adequately described by a blackbody model. The observations covering a seven month span from 2008 to 2009 show variations in the spectral properties of the source, with the luminosity decreasing from $2.7\times 10^{34}$ erg s${}^{-1}$ to $4.6\times 10^{33}$ erg s${}^{-1}$, along with a decrease of the blackbody temperature from $kT\approx 0.8$ keV to $\approx 0.6$ keV. The X-ray luminosity of the source is higher than its spin-down luminosity, ruling out rotation as a power source. The combined timing and spectral properties, the non-detection of any optical or infrared counterpart, together with the lack of detection of the source in archival X-ray data prior to the 2008 XMM-Newton observation, point to this source being a newly discovered transient low-B magnetar undergoing an outburst decay during the XMM-Newton observations. The non-detection by Chandra in 2001 sets an upper limit $4\times 10^{32}$ erg s${}^{-1}$ to the quiescent luminosity of 3XMM J185246.6+003317. Its period is the longest among currently known transient magnetars. The foreground absorption toward 3XMM J185246.6+003317 is similar to that of Kes 79, suggesting a similar distance of $\sim$7.1 kpc.

7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; updated to match the published version

References in corpus (6)

• Transient pulsed radio emission from a magnetar
• Untwisting magnetospheres of neutron stars
• Magnetar-like Emission from the Young Pulsar in Kes 75
• Resonant cyclotron scattering in magnetars' emission
• 3XMM J185246.6+003317: another low magnetic field magnetar
• X-ray Timing of PSR J1852+0040 in Kesteven 79: Evidence of Neutron Stars Weakly Magnetized at Birth

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