Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0607173

From: Andrea De Luca [view email]

Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:46:10 GMT (463kb)

A long-period, violently-variable X-ray source in a young SNR

Authors: A. De Luca, P.A. Caraveo, S. Mereghetti, A. Tiengo, G.F. Bignami

Comments: Accepted for publication in Science. Published online via Science Express on 2006, July 6. 17 pages, 7 figures

Observations with the Newton X-ray Multimirror Mission (XMM) show a strong periodic modulation at 6.67+/-0.03 hours of the X-ray source at the centre of the 2,000-year-old supernova remnant RCW 103. No fast pulsations are visible. If genetically tied to the supernova remnant, the source could either be an X-ray binary, comprising a compact object and a low-mass star in an eccentric orbit, or an isolated neutron star. In the latter case, its age-period combination would point to a peculiar magnetar, dramatically slowed-down, possibly by a supernova debris disc. Both scenarios require non-standard assumptions on the formation and evolution of compact objects in supernova explosions.

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0607173