Discovery of a radio-emitting neutron star with an ultra-long spin period of 76 s

被引：118

作者：

Caleb, Manisha ^{[1
,2
,3
]}

Heywood, Ian ^{[4
,5
,6
]}

Rajwade, Kaustubh ^{[1
,7
]}

Malenta, Mateusz ^{[1
]}

Stappers, Benjamin Willem ^{[1
]}

Barr, Ewan ^{[8
]}

Chen, Weiwei ^{[8
]}

Morello, Vincent ^{[1
]}

Sanidas, Sotiris ^{[1
]}

van den Eijnden, Jakob ^{[4
]}

Kramer, Michael ^{[1
,8
]}

Buckley, David ^{[9
,10
,11
]}

Brink, Jaco ^{[9
,10
]}

Motta, Sara Elisa ^{[12
]}

Woudt, Patrick ^{[10
]}

Weltevrede, Patrick ^{[1
]}

Jankowski, Fabian ^{[1
]}

Surnis, Mayuresh ^{[1
]}

Buchner, Sarah ^{[6
]}

Bezuidenhout, Mechiel Christiaan ^{[1
]}

Driessen, Laura Nicole ^{[1
,13
]}

Fender, Rob ^{[4
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Manchester, Dept Phys & Astron, Jodrell Bank, Ctr Astrophys, Manchester, Lancs, England

[2] Univ Sydney, Sch Phys, Sydney Inst Astron, Sydney, NSW, Australia

[3] ASTRO3D ARC Ctr Excellence All Sky Astrophys 3D, Canberra, ACT, Australia

[4] Univ Oxford, Dept Phys, Astrophys, Oxford, England

[5] Rhodes Univ, Dept Phys & Elect, Grahamstown, South Africa

[6] South African Radio Astron Observ, Cape Town, South Africa

[7] ASTRON, Netherlands Inst Radio Astron, Dwingeloo, Netherlands

[8] Max Planck Inst Radioastron, Bonn, Germany

[9] South African Astron Observ, Cape Town, South Africa

[10] Univ Cape Town, Dept Astron, Cape Town, South Africa

[11] Univ Free State, Dept Astron, Cape Town, South Africa

[12] INAF Osservatorio Astron Brera, Merate, Italy

[13] CSIRO, Space & Astron, Bentley, WA, Australia

来源：

NATURE ASTRONOMY | 2022年 / 6卷 / 07期

基金：

澳大利亚研究理事会; 新加坡国家研究基金会; 荷兰研究理事会; 欧洲研究理事会;

关键词：

PULSAR MICROSTRUCTURE; EVOLUTION; TRANSIENT; EMISSION;

D O I：

10.1038/s41550-022-01688-x

中图分类号：

P1 [天文学];

学科分类号：

0704 ;

摘要：

Using the MeerKAT radio telescope, the authors have discovered a neutron star with an ultra-long spin period of 76 s. Though it resides in the neutron star graveyard, it emits radio waves and challenges our understanding of neutron star evolution. The radio-emitting neutron star population encompasses objects with spin periods ranging from milliseconds to tens of seconds. As they age and spin more slowly, their radio emission is expected to cease. We present the discovery of an ultra-long-period radio-emitting neutron star, PSR J0901-4046, with spin properties distinct from the known spin- and magnetic-decay-powered neutron stars. With a spin period of 75.88 s, a characteristic age of 5.3 Myr and a narrow pulse duty cycle, it is uncertain how its radio emission is generated and challenges our current understanding of how these systems evolve. The radio emission has unique spectro-temporal properties, such as quasi-periodicity and partial nulling, that provide important clues to the emission mechanism. Detecting similar sources is observationally challenging, which implies a larger undetected population. Our discovery establishes the existence of ultra-long-period neutron stars, suggesting a possible connection to the evolution of highly magnetized neutron stars, ultra-long-period magnetars and fast radio bursts.

引用

页码：828 / +

页数：17

共 51 条

[1] Radio-quiet pulsars with ultrastrong magnetic fields [J].