The $\gamma$-ray pulsar J0633+0632 in X-rays

Abstract

We analysed Chandra observations of the bright Fermi pulsar J0633+0632 and found evidence of an absorption feature in its spectrum at $804_{-26}^{+42}$ eV (the errors here and below are at 90% confidence) with equivalent width of $63_{-36}^{+47}$ eV. In addition, we analysed in detail the X-ray spectral continuum taking into account correlations between the interstellar absorption and the distance to the source. We confirm early findings by Ray et al. (2011) that the spectrum contains non-thermal and thermal components. The latter is equally well described by the blackbody and magnetised atmosphere models and can be attributed to the emission from the bulk of the stellar surface in both cases. The distance to the pulsar is constrained in a range of 1--4 kpc from the spectral fits. We infer the blackbody surface temperature of $108_{-14}^{+22}$ eV, while for the atmosphere model, the temperature, as seen by a distant observer, is $53_{-7}^{+12}$ eV. In the latter case J0633+0632 is one of the coldest middle-aged isolated neutron stars with measured temperatures. Finally, it powers an extended pulsar wind nebula whose shape suggests a high pulsar proper motion. Looking backwards the direction of the presumed proper motion we found a likely birthplace of the pulsar -- the Rosette nebula, a 50-Myr-old active star-forming region located at about 1$.{}^{\circ }$5 from the pulsar. If true, this constrains the distance to the pulsar in the range of 1.2--1.8 kpc.

15 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Pulsar wind nebulae with bow shocks: non-thermal radiation and cosmic ray leptons
• Magnetic neutron star cooling and microphysics
• Observations of three young gamma-ray pulsars with the Gran Telescopio Canarias
• XMM-Newton observations of a gamma-ray pulsar J0633+0632: pulsations, cooling and large-scale emission
• Observational connection of non-thermal X-ray emission from pulsars with their timing properties and thermal emission
• XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of the unidentified Fermi-LAT source 3FGL J1016.5-6034: A Young Pulsar with a Nebula?
• Chandra measurements of the proper motion of the $\gamma$-ray pulsar J0633+0632
• Discovery of an X-ray nebula in the field of millisecond pulsar PSR J1911-1114