A quest for young and energetic pulsars in the SMC: The case of IKT 16 & AX J0043-737

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.