PSR J1410-6132: A young, energetic pulsar associated with EGRET source 3EG J1410-6147

TL;DR

We discovered a young, energetic pulsar with unique properties that is likely responsible for an associated gamma-ray source, highlighting the effectiveness of high-frequency surveys in detecting such objects in the inner galaxy.

Contribution

This paper reports the discovery of PSR J1410-6132, a young pulsar with extreme dispersion and rotation measures, linking it to a gamma-ray source and demonstrating the value of high-frequency surveys.

Findings

The pulsar has a characteristic age of 26 kyr.

It has a spin-down energy of 10^37 erg s^-1.

It is likely the source of the gamma-ray emission.

Abstract

We present the discovery of PSR J1410-6132, a 50-ms pulsar found during a high-frequency survey of the Galactic plane, using a 7-beam 6.3-GHz receiver on the 64-m Parkes radio telescope. The pulsar lies within the error box of the unidentified EGRET source 3EG J1410-6147, has a characteristic age of 26 kyr and a spin-down energy of 10^37 erg s^-1. It has a very high dispersion measure of 960+/-10 cm^-3 pc and the largest rotation measure of any pulsar, RM=+2400 +/- 30 rad m^-2. The pulsar is very scatter-broadened at frequencies of 1.4 GHz and below, making pulsed emission almost impossible to detect. Assuming a distance of 15 kpc, the pulsar's spin-down energy and a gamma-ray efficiency factor of ~10 per cent is sufficient to power the gamma-ray source. We therefore believe we have identified the nature of 3EG J1410-6147. This new discovery suggests that deep targeted high-frequency surveys of inner-galaxy EGRET sources could uncover further young, energetic pulsars.