The first deep X-ray and optical observations of the closest isolated radio pulsar

TL;DR

This paper reports the first deep X-ray and optical observations of the closest isolated radio pulsar, PSR J2144-3933, providing stringent surface temperature limits and exploring gravitational lensing effects to measure neutron star mass.

Contribution

It presents the first deep multi-wavelength observations of PSR J2144-3933, setting robust surface temperature limits and investigating gravitational lensing for neutron star mass measurement.

Findings

Set one of the most robust upper limits on neutron star surface temperature.

Performed the first optical and X-ray observations of this nearby pulsar.

Explored gravitational lensing as a method to measure neutron star mass.

Abstract

With a distance of 170 pc, PSR J2144-3933 is the closest isolated radio pulsar currently known. It is also the slowest and least energetic radio pulsar; indeed, its radio emission is difficult to account for with standard pulsar models, since its position in the P-Pdot diagram is far beyond typical "death lines". Here we present the first deep X-ray and optical observations of PSR J2144-3933, performed in 2009 with XMM-Newton and the VLT, from which we can set one of the most robust upper limits on the surface temperature of a neutron star. We have also explored the possibility of measuring the neutron star mass from the gravitational lensing effect on a background optical source.