The isolated neutron star candidate RX J1605.3+3249
Abstract
We report on X-ray and optical observations of a ROSAT X-ray source, RX J1605.3+3249, selected from the all-sky survey on the basis of its spectral softness and lack of bright optical counterpart. The ROSAT PSPC energy distribution is well fitted by a blackbody with kT = 92 +/- 6 eV and Nh =1.1 +/- 0.4 x 10^20 cm^-2. X-ray observations spanning 6.5 years fail to reveal any flux or spectral variability on any time scales. The ROSAT HRI error circle only contains a R = 23.25 M star which is unlikely to be associated with the X-ray source. We conclude that RX J1605.3+3249 is a probable nearby isolated neutron star detected from its thermal emission. The present data do not allow to unambiguously determine the X-ray powering mechanism, cooling from a young neutron star or heating by accretion from the interstellar medium onto an old neutron star. However, the long term stability of the X-ray flux favours the young neutron star hypothesis.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9907306,
title = {The isolated neutron star candidate RX J1605.3+3249},
author = {C. Motch and F. Haberl and F. -J. Zickgraf and G. Hasinger and A. D. Schwope},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9907306},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in A&A. 9 pages, 8 figures