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Hiccups in the Night: X-ray Monitoring of the Two Crab-like LMC Pulsars
Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series
  • EV Gotthelf
  • W Zhang
  • FE Marshall
  • J Middleditch
  • QD Wang, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Publication Date
2002
Abstract

We are undertaking an extensive X-ray monitoring campaign of the two Crab-like pulsars in the Large Magellanic Clouds, PSR B0540-69 and PSR J0537-6910. We present our current phase-connected timing analysis derived from a set of 50 pointed X-ray observations spanning several years. From our initial 1.2 yr monitoring program of the young 50 ms pulsar PSR B0540-69, we find the first compelling evidence for a glitch in its rotation. This glitch is characterized by Delta nu / nu = (1.90+-0.05) x 10-9 and Delta nudot / nudot = (8.5+-0.5) x 10-5. Taking into account the glitch event, we derive a braking index of n = 1.81+-0.07, significantly lower than previous reported. For the 16 ms pulsar, PSR J0537-6910, we recorded 6 large glitch events during a period of nearly 3 years, the highest rate of all known Crab-like systems. Despite the extreme timing activity, the long term spin-down of this pulsar continues to average -1.9743 x 10-10 Hz/s.

Comments

This is the pre-published version harvested from ArXiv. The published version is located at http://www.aspbooks.org/a/volumes/article_details/?paper_id=25188

Pages
365
Citation Information
EV Gotthelf, W Zhang, FE Marshall, J Middleditch, et al.. "Hiccups in the Night: X-ray Monitoring of the Two Crab-like LMC Pulsars" Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series Vol. 271 (2002)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/daniel_wang/28/