Astronomy and Astrophysics Seminars
A quest for young and energetic pulsars in the SMC: The case of IKT 16 & AX J0043-737
by Ms. MAITRA Chandreyee (CEA, France)
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
from
to
(Asia/Kolkata)
at TIFR ( A269 )
at TIFR ( A269 )
Description |
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a gas rich astrophysical laboratory with a high star formation rate and the advantage of relatively close distance and low line of sight absorption. The recent star formation activity ~40 Myr ago, has created an environment where X-ray pulsars are expected to be plentiful. In tune with this, a large population of HMXB pulsars have been discovered (typically a million years old). The younger population having age < 20 kyr is however, still missing. We present results from two of the most promising candidates for young and energetic pulsars in the SMC, namely IKT 16 and AX J0043-737. IKT 16 is the first confirmed PWN in the SMC expected to be powered by a pulsar with spin-down power ~ 10^37 erg s^-1, with P < 100 ms and P_dot ~10^-13 s s^-1. AX J0043-737 is an elusive source in the ASCA catalog which indicated to show pulsations at 87 ms. The detection was however only marginal and was never followed up until recently by us. |