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DEEP OPTICAL OBSERVATIONS of UNUSUAL NEUTRON STAR CALVERA with the GTC

Astrophysical Journal, ISSN: 1538-4357, Vol: 831, Issue: 1
2016
  • 11
    Citations
  • 0
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  • 7
    Captures
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Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    11
    • Citation Indexes
      11
  • Captures
    7

Article Description

Calvera is an unusual, isolated neutron star with a pure thermal X-ray spectrum typical of central compact objects in supernova remnants. On the other hand, its rotation period and spin-down rate are typical of ordinary rotationpowered pulsars. It was discovered and studied through X-rays, and has not yet been detected in other spectral domains. We present deep optical imaging of the Calvera field, obtained with the Gran Telescopio Canarias, in the g′ and i′ bands. Within the vicinity of ≈1′ of Calvera, we detected two point-like objects that were invisible at previous shallow observations. However, accurate astrometry showed that neither of them can be identified with the pulsar. We put new upper limits of g′ > 27.87 and i′ > 26.84 on its optical brightness. We also reanalyzed all available archival X-ray data on Calvera. Comparison of the Calvera thermal emission parameters and upper limits on optical and non-thermal X-ray emission with respective data on rotation-powered pulsars shows that Calvera might belong to the class of ordinary middle-aged pulsars, if we assume that its distance is in the range of 1.5-5 kpc.

Bibliographic Details

Yury Shibanov; Andrey Danilenko; Peter Shternin; Dima Zyuzin; Sergey Zharikov

American Astronomical Society

Physics and Astronomy; Earth and Planetary Sciences

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