Issue |
A&A
Volume 374, Number 1, July IV 2001
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 259 - 263 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20010720 | |
Published online | 15 July 2001 |
On the age of PSR B 1509-58
1
Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory, Georgian Academy of Sciences, A.Kazbegi ave. 2-a, Tbilisi 380060, Georgia
2
Sternberg State Astronomical Institute, Universitetskij Prospect 13, Moscow 119899, Russia
Received:
26
April
1999
Accepted:
17
May
2001
It is generally accepted that the
PSR B 1509-58 is associated with the supernova remnant (SNR)
MSH 15-52 (G 320.4-01.2). The spin-down age of the pulsar is 1700 years, while the size and the general appearance of the SNR suggest
that this system is much older. A few possible explanations of
this discrepancy have been put forward.
We offer an alternative one and suggest that the high spin-down
rate of the pulsar characterizes only a
relatively short period of its (present) spin
history, and that the enhanced braking torque is connected with
the interaction between the pulsar's magnetosphere and the dense matter
of a circumstellar clump (created during the late evolutionary
stages of the supernova (SN) progenitor star). Our suggestion
implies that the "true" age of PSR B 1509-58 could be much
larger than the spin-down age, and therefore the SNR
MSH 15-52 is a middle-aged remnant similar to the Vela SNR
(G 263.9-3.3). We also suggest that
the dense (neutral) gas of the circumstellar clump could be responsible
for the enhanced neutral hydrogen absorption towards PSR B 1509-58,
and that the optical emission of an optical
counterpart for PSR B 1509-58 should rather be attributed to a
bow shock around this pulsar than to the pulsar itself.
Key words: stars: neutron / pulsars: individual: B 1509-58 / ISM: bubbles / ISM: individual objects: MSH 15-52 / ISM: supernova remnants
© ESO, 2001
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