Identification of Candidate Millisecond Pulsars from Fermi LAT Observations

Abstract

We report our detailed data analysis for 39 $\gamma$-ray sources selected from the 992 unassociated sources in the \textit{Fermi} Large Area Telescope (LAT) third source catalog. The selection criteria, which were set for finding candidate millisecond pulsars (MSPs), are non-variables with curved spectra and $>$5${}^{\circ }$ Galactic latitudes. From our analysis, 24 sources were found to be point-like sources not contaminated by background or nearby unknown sources. Three of them, J1544.6$-$1125, J1625.1$-$0021, and J1653.6$-$0158, have been previously studied, indicating that they are likely MSPs. The spectra of J0318.1+0252 and J2053.9+2922 do not have properties similar to that of known $\gamma$-ray MSPs, and we thus suggest that they are not MSPs. Analysis of archival X-ray data for most of the 24 sources were also conducted. Four sources were found with X-ray objects in their error circles, and 16 with no detection. The ratios between the $\gamma$-ray fluxes and X-ray fluxes or flux upper limits are generally lower than those of the known $\gamma$-ray MSPs, suggesting that if the $\gamma$-ray sources are MSPs, none of the X-ray objects are the counterparts. Deep X-ray or radio observations of these sources are needed in order to identify their MSP nature.

arXiv comment12 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in RAA

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• Fermi Study of gamma-ray Millisecond Pulsars: the Spectral Shape and Pulsed 25--200 GeV Emission from J0614-3329
• G17.8+16.7: A New Supernova Remnant
• A Multi-wavelength search for Black Widows and Redbacks counterparts of candidate $\gamma$-ray millisecond pulsars
• Searching for Gamma-Ray Millisecond Pulsars: Selection of Candidates Revisited