Gazing at the ultra-slow magnetar in RCW 103 with NuSTAR and Swift

Abstract

We report on a new NuSTAR observation and on the ongoing Swift XRT monitoring campaign of the peculiar source 1E 161348-5055, located at the centre of the supernova remnant RCW 103, which is recovering from its last outburst in June 2016. The X-ray spectrum at the epoch of the NuSTAR observation can be described by either two absorbed blackbodies ($k{T}_{B{B}_1}$ ~ 0.5 keV, $k{T}_{B{B}_2}$ ~ 1.2 keV) or an absorbed blackbody plus a power law ($k{T}_{B{B}_1}$ ~ 0.6 keV, $\Gamma$ ~ 3.9). The observed flux was ~ 9 $\times$ 10${}^{-12}$ erg s${}^{-1}$ cm${}^{-2}$, ~ 3 times lower than what observed at the outburst onset, but about one order of magnitude higher than the historical quiescent level. A periodic modulation was detected at the known 6.67 hr periodicity. The spectral decomposition and evolution along the outburst decay are consistent with 1E 161348-5055 being a magnetar, the slowest ever detected.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in MNRAS

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• Evidence for an abundant old population of Galactic ultra long period magnetars and implications for fast radio bursts
• The X-ray reactivation of the radio bursting magnetar SGR 1935+2154
• A radiatively-quiet glitch and anti-glitch in the magnetar 1E 2259+586
• The long-term enhanced brightness of the magnetar 1E 1547.0-5408
• On the fallback disk around the slowest isolated pulsar, 1E 161348$-$5055
• Long X-ray flares from the central source in RCW 103
• Massive Stars in Molecular Clouds Rich in High-energy Sources: The Bridge of G332.809-0.132 and CS 78 in NGC 6334