XMM-Newton observation of the nearby pulsar B1133+16

Abstract

We constrain the X-ray properties of the nearby $(360\mathrm{pc})$, old ($5\mathrm{Myr}$) pulsar B1133+16 with $\sim 100\mathrm{ks}$ effective exposure time by {\it XMM-Newton}. The observed pulsar flux in the 0.2-3 keV energy range is $\sim 10^{-14}{\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, which results in the recording of $\sim 600$ source counts with the EPIC pn and MOS detectors. The X-ray radiation is dominated by nonthermal radiation and is well described by both a single power-law model (PL) and a sum of blackbody and power-law emission (BB+PL). The BB+PL model results in a spectral photon index $\Gamma =2.4_{-0.3}^{+0.4}$ and a nonthermal flux in the 0.2-3 keV energy range of $(7\pm 2)\times 10^{-15}{\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. The thermal emission is consistent with the blackbody emission from a small hot spot with a radius of $R_{\mathrm{pc}}\approx 14_{-5}^{+7}\mathrm{m}$ and a temperature of $T_{\mathrm{s}}=2.9_{-0.4}^{+0.6}\mathrm{MK}$. Assuming that the hot spot corresponds to the polar cap of the pulsar, we can use the magnetic flux conservation law to estimate the magnetic field at the surface $B_{\mathrm{s}}\approx 3.9\times 10^{14}\mathrm{G}$. The observations are in good agreement with the predictions of the partially screened gap model, which assumes the existence of small-scale surface magnetic field structures in the polar cap region.

arXiv comment10 pages, 8 figuers, accepted for publication in ApJ

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