Discovery of X-Ray Emission from the Crab Pulsar at Pulse Minimum

Tennant, Allyn F.; Becker, Werner; Juda, Michael; Elsner, Ronald F.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Murray, Stephen S.; ODell, Stephen L.; Paerels, Frits; Swartz, Douglas A.

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory observed the Crab pulsar using the Low-Energy Transmission Grating with the High-Resolution Camera. Time-resolved zeroth-order images reveal that the pulsar emits X-rays at all pulse phases. Analysis of the flux at minimum - most likely non-thermal in origin - places an upper limit (T(sub infinity) < 2.1 MK) on the surface temperature of the underlying neutron star. In addition, analysis of the pulse profile establishes that the error in the Chandra-determined absolute time is quite small, -0.2 +/- 0.1 ms.

Document ID

20020023810

Document Type

Reprint (Version printed in journal)

External Source(s)

doi:10.1086/321718

Authors

Tennant, Allyn F. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)

Becker, Werner (Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Extraterrestrische Physik Garching, Germany)

Juda, Michael (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA United States)

Elsner, Ronald F. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)

Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)

Murray, Stephen S. (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA United States)

ODell, Stephen L. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)

Paerels, Frits (Columbia Univ. New York, NY United States)

Swartz, Douglas A. (Universities Space Research Association Huntsville, AL United States)

Date Acquired

August 20, 2013

Publication Date

June 20, 2001

Publication Information

Publication: Astrophysical Journal

Volume: 554

Subject Category

Distribution Limits

Public

Other

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server