A search for cold dust around neutron stars
1
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany e-mail: loehmer@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
2
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
3
Toruń Centre for Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina 11, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Received:
9
May
2004
Accepted:
22
June
2004
We present observations of nine radio pulsars using the
Heinrich-Hertz-Telescope at λ 0.87 mm and the IRAM 30-m telescope at λ 1.2 mm in search for a cold dust around these
sources. Five of the program pulsars have been observed for the first
time at the mm-wavelengths. The results are consistent with the
absence of circumpulsar disks that would be massive enough () to support planet formation according to the
scenarios envisioned for solar-type stars, but they do not exclude
lower mass (
) disks for a wide range of grain
sizes. These conclusions confirm the previously published results and,
together with the current lack of further detections of pulsar
planets, they suggest that planet formation around neutron stars is
not a common phenomenon.
Key words: stars: circumstellar matter / stars: planetary systems / stars: pulsars: general
© ESO, 2004