Out of the frying pan: a young pulsar with a long radio trail emerging from SNR G315.9-0.0

TL;DR

A young pulsar with a long radio trail was discovered near SNR G315.9-0.0, providing insights into pulsar velocities and wind trails in supernova remnants.

Contribution

This paper reports the discovery of a young, energetic pulsar with a long radio trail associated with SNR G315.9-0.0, revealing a new example of pulsar wind trail phenomena.

Findings

Pulsar PSR J1437-5959 has a period of 61 ms and is very faint.

The pulsar's inferred velocity is approximately 300 km/s.

The linear trail is likely a pulsar wind trail from a supersonic passage.

Abstract

The faint radio supernova remnant SNR G315.9-0.0 is notable for a long and thin trail that extends outward perpendicular from the edge of its approximately circular shell. In a search with the Parkes telescope we have found a young and energetic pulsar that is located at the tip of this collimated linear structure. PSR J1437-5959 has period P = 61 ms, characteristic age tau_c = 114 kyr, and spin-down luminosity dE/dt = 1.4e36 erg/s. It is very faint, with a flux density at 1.4 GHz of about 75 uJy. From its dispersion measure of 549 pc/cc, we infer d ~ 8 kpc. At this distance and for an age comparable to tau_c, the implied pulsar velocity in the plane of the sky is V_t = 300 km/s for a birth at the center of the SNR, although it is possible that the SNR/pulsar system is younger than tau_c and that V_t > 300 km/s. The highly collimated linear feature is evidently the pulsar wind trail left from the supersonic passage of PSR J1437-5959 through the interstellar medium surrounding SNR G315.9-0.0.