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American Astronomical Society, Astrophysical Journal, 2(676), p. 1178-1183, 2008

DOI: 10.1086/527293

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Outburst of the 2 s Anomalous X-ray Pulsar 1E 1547.0-5408

Journal article published in 2007 by J. P. Halpern, E. V. Gotthelf ORCID, J. Reynolds, S. M. Ransom ORCID, F. Camilo
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Following our discovery of radio pulsations from the newly recognized anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP) 1E 1547.0 - 5408, we initiated X-ray monitoring with the Swift X-ray telescope and obtained a single target-of-opportunity observation with the Newton X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton). In comparison with its historic minimum flux of 3 x 10(-13) ergs cm(-2) s(-1), the source was found to be in a record high state, f(X)(1-8 keV) = 5 x 10(-12) ergs cm(-2) s(-1), or L-X = 1.7 x 10(35)(d/9 kpc)(2) ergs s(-1), and declining by 25% in 1 month. Extrapolating the decay, we bound the total energy in this outburst to 10(42) ergs < E < 10(43) ergs. The spectra ( fitted with a Comptonized blackbody) show that an increase in the temperature and area of a hot region, to 0.5 keV and similar to 16% of the surface area of the neutron star, respectively, are primarily responsible for its increase in luminosity. The energy, spectrum, and timescale of decay are consistent with a deep crustal heating event, similar to an interpretation of the X-ray turn-on of the transient AXP XTE J1810 - 197. Simultaneous with the 4.6 hr XMM-Newton observation, we observed at 6.4 GHz with the Parkes telescope, measuring the phase relationship of the radio and X-ray pulse. The X-ray pulsed fraction of 1E 1547.0 - 5408 is only similar to 7%, while its radio pulse is relatively broad for such a slow pulsar, which may indicate a nearly aligned rotator. As also inferred from the transient behavior of XTE J1810 - 197, the only other AXP known to emit in the radio, the magnetic field rearrangement responsible for this X-ray outburst of 1E 1547.0 - 5408 is probably the cause of its radio turn-on.