No Confirmed New Isolated Neutron Stars In The SDSS Data Release 4
Marcel Ag\"ueros, Bettina Posselt, Scott Anderson, Philip Rosenfield,, Frank Haberl, Lee Homer, Bruce Margon, Emily Newsom, Wolfgang Voges

TL;DR
This study conducted follow-up observations on candidate isolated neutron stars from SDSS and RASS data, finding no new confirmed INSs and suggesting such discoveries are unlikely with current correlation methods.
Contribution
The paper provides a comprehensive follow-up analysis of candidate INSs, refining the candidate list and updating population models to estimate the expected number of INSs in SDSS data.
Findings
Most candidates were ruled out as INSs after follow-up observations.
Population models predict 3-4 INSs in the SDSS footprint, aligning with known numbers.
Additional candidates are unlikely to be confirmed as INSs.
Abstract
We report on follow-up observations of candidate X-ray bright, radio-quiet isolated neutron stars (INSs) identified from correlations of the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 4 in Ag\"ueros et al. (2006). We obtained Chandra X-ray Telescope exposures for 13 candidates in order to pinpoint the source of X-ray emission in optically blank RASS error circles. These observations eliminated 12 targets as good INS candidates. We discuss subsequent observations of the remaining candidate with the XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory, the Gemini North Observatory, and the Apache Point Observatory. We identify this object as a likely extragalactic source with an unusually high log(fX/fopt) ~ 2.4. We also use an updated version of the population synthesis models of Popov et al. (2010) to estimate the number of RASS-detected INSs in the SDSS Data Release 7…
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Taxonomy
TopicsPulsars and Gravitational Waves Research · Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations · Geophysics and Gravity Measurements
