English

A new X-ray census of rotation powered pulsars

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2025-04-01 v2

Abstract

To date, over 4000 pulsars have been detected. In this study, we identify 231 X-ray counterparts of Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) pulsars by performing a spatial cross match across the Chandra, XMM-Newton observational catalogs. This dataset represents the largest sample of X-ray counterparts ever compiled, including 98 normal pulsars (NPs) and 133 millisecond pulsars (MSPs). Based on this significantly expanded sample, we re-establish the correlation between X-ray luminosity and spin-down power, given by LXE˙0.85±0.05L_{\rm X} \propto \dot{E}^{0.85\pm0.05} across the whole X-ray band. The strong correlation is also observed in hard X-ray band, while in soft X-ray band there is no significant correlation. Furthermore, LXL_{\rm X} shows a strong correlation with spin period and characteristic age for NPs. For the first time, we observe a strongly positive correlation between LXL_{\rm X} and the light cylinder magnetic field (BlcB_{\rm lc}) for MSPs, with both NPs and MSPs following the relationship LXBlc1.14L_{\rm X} \propto B_{\rm lc}^{1.14}, consistent with the outer-gap model of pulsars that explains the mechanism of X-ray emission. Additionally, we investigate potential X-ray counterparts for Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot pulsars, finding a lower likelihood of detection compared to ATNF pulsars.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.10999,
  title  = {A new X-ray census of rotation powered pulsars},
  author = {Yu-Jing Xu and Han-Long Peng and Shan-Shan Weng and Xiao Zhang and Ming-Yu Ge},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.10999},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

13 pages, 4 figures, and 3 tables; published in ApJ; X-ray pulsar catalog will be updated regularly online