We report the discovery of PSR J1906+0722, a gamma-ray pulsar detected as part of a blind survey of unidentified Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) sources being carried out on the volunteer distributed computing system, Einstein@Home. This newly discovered pulsar previously appeared as the most significant remaining unidentified gamma-ray source without a known association in the second Fermi-LAT source catalog (2FGL) and was among the top 10 most significant unassociated sources in the recent third catalog (3FGL). PSR J1906+0722 is a young, energetic, isolated pulsar, with a spin frequency of 8.9 Hz, a characteristic age of 49 kyr, and spin-down power 1.0 x 10(36) erg s(-1). In 2009 August it suffered one of the largest glitches detected from a gamma-ray pulsar (Delta f/f approximate to 4.5 x 10(-6)). Remaining undetected in dedicated radio follow-up observations, the pulsar is likely radio-quiet. An off-pulse analysis of the gamma-ray flux from the location of PSR J1906+0722 revealed the presence of an additional nearby source, which may be emission from the interaction between a neighboring supernova remnant and a molecular cloud. We discuss possible effects which may have hindered the detection of PSR J1906+0722 in previous searches and describe the methods by which these effects were mitigated in this survey. We also demonstrate the use of advanced timing methods for estimating the positional, spin and glitch parameters of difficult-to-time pulsars such as this.
PSR J1906+0722: AN ELUSIVE GAMMA-RAY PULSAR / Clark CJ; Pletsch HJ; Wu J; Guillemot L; Ackermann M; Allen B; de Angelis A; Aulbert C; Baldini L; Ballet J; Barbiellini G; Bastieri D; Bellazzini R; Bissaldi E; Bock O; Bonino R; Bottacini E; Brandt TJ; Bregeon J; Bruel P; Buson S; Caliandro GA; Cameron RA; Caragiulo M; Caraveo PA; Cecchi C; Champion DJ; Charles E; Chekhtman A; Chiang J; Chiaro G; Ciprini S; Claus R; Cohen-Tanugi J; Cuellar A; Cutini S; DAmmando F; Desiante R; Drell PS; Eggenstein HB; Favuzzi C; Fehrmann H; Ferrara EC; Focke WB; Franckowiak A; Fusco P; Gargano F; Gasparrini D; Giglietto N; Giordano F; Glanzman T; Godfrey G; Grenier IA; Grove JE; Guiriec S; Harding AK; Hays E; Hewitt JW; Hill AB; Horan D; Hou X; Jogler T; Johnson AS; Johannesson G; Kramer M; Krauss F; Kuss M; Laffon H; Larsson S; Latronico L; Li J; Li L; Longo F; Loparco F; Lovellette MN; Lubrano P; Machenschalk B; Manfreda A; Marelli M; Mayer M; Mazziotta MN; Michelson PF; Mizuno T; Monzani ME; Morselli A; Moskalenko IV; Murgia S; Nuss E; Ohsugi T; Orienti M; Orlando E; de Palma F; Paneque D; Pesce-Rollins M; Piron F; Pivato G; Raino S; Rando R; Razzano M; Reimer A; Parkinson PMS; Schaal M; Schulz A; Sgro C; Siskind EJ; Spada F; Spandre G; Spinelli P; Suson DJ; Takahashi H; Thayer JB; Tibaldo L; Torne P; Torres DF; Tosti G; Troja E; Vianello G; Wood KS; Wood M; Yassine M. - In: THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS. - ISSN 2041-8205. - STAMPA. - 809:1(2015), pp. L2.2-L2.9. [10.1088/2041-8205/809/1/L2]
PSR J1906+0722: AN ELUSIVE GAMMA-RAY PULSAR
D'AMMANDO, FILIPPO;
2015
Abstract
We report the discovery of PSR J1906+0722, a gamma-ray pulsar detected as part of a blind survey of unidentified Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) sources being carried out on the volunteer distributed computing system, Einstein@Home. This newly discovered pulsar previously appeared as the most significant remaining unidentified gamma-ray source without a known association in the second Fermi-LAT source catalog (2FGL) and was among the top 10 most significant unassociated sources in the recent third catalog (3FGL). PSR J1906+0722 is a young, energetic, isolated pulsar, with a spin frequency of 8.9 Hz, a characteristic age of 49 kyr, and spin-down power 1.0 x 10(36) erg s(-1). In 2009 August it suffered one of the largest glitches detected from a gamma-ray pulsar (Delta f/f approximate to 4.5 x 10(-6)). Remaining undetected in dedicated radio follow-up observations, the pulsar is likely radio-quiet. An off-pulse analysis of the gamma-ray flux from the location of PSR J1906+0722 revealed the presence of an additional nearby source, which may be emission from the interaction between a neighboring supernova remnant and a molecular cloud. We discuss possible effects which may have hindered the detection of PSR J1906+0722 in previous searches and describe the methods by which these effects were mitigated in this survey. We also demonstrate the use of advanced timing methods for estimating the positional, spin and glitch parameters of difficult-to-time pulsars such as this.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
