Magnetar-like emission from the young pulsar in Kes 75.
We report the detection of magnetar-like x-ray bursts from the young pulsar PSR J1846-0258, at the center of the supernova remnant Kes 75. This pulsar, long thought to be exclusively rotation-powered, has an inferred surface dipolar magnetic field of 4.9 x 10(13) gauss, which is higher than those of the vast majority of rotation-powered pulsars, but lower than those of the approximately 12 previously identified magnetars. The bursts were accompanied by a sudden flux increase and an unprecedented change in timing behavior. These phenomena lower the magnetic and rotational thresholds associated with magnetar-like behavior and suggest that in neutron stars there exists a continuum of magnetic activity that increases with inferred magnetic field strength.
Gavriil
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FP
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. fotis.p.gavriil@nasa.gov
Gonzalez
M E
ME
Gotthelf
E V
EV
Kaspi
V M
VM
Livingstone
M A
MA
Woods
P M
PM