Middle aged $\gamma$-ray pulsar J1957+5033 in X-rays: pulsations, thermal emission and nebula

TL;DR

This study reports the first detection of X-ray pulsations from the middle-aged gamma-ray pulsar J1957+5033, revealing thermal emission from its surface and evidence of a pulsar wind nebula, advancing understanding of neutron star cooling and emission.

Contribution

It introduces new X-ray pulsation detection, thermal emission modeling with novel neutron star atmosphere models, and identifies a pulsar wind nebula associated with J1957+5033.

Findings

First X-ray pulsation detection confirming pulsar nature.

Pulsar's surface temperature is the coldest among similar age neutron stars.

Identification of a faint pulsar wind nebula.

Abstract

We analyze new XMM-Newton and archival Chandra observations of the middle-aged $\gamma$-ray radio-quiet pulsar J1957+5033. We detect, for the first time, X-ray pulsations with the pulsar spin period of the point-like source coinciding by position with the pulsar. This confirms the pulsar nature of the source. In the 0.15--0.5 keV band, there is a single pulse per period and the pulsed fraction is $\approx18\pm6$ per cent. In this band, the pulsar spectrum is dominated by a thermal emission component that likely comes from the entire surface of the neutron star, while at higher energies ($\gtrsim0.7$ keV) it is described by a power law with the photon index $\Gamma \approx 1.6$. We construct new hydrogen atmosphere models for neutron stars with dipole magnetic fields and non-uniform surface temperature distributions with relatively low effective temperatures. We use them in the spectral analysis and derive the pulsar average effective temperature of $\approx(2-3)\times10^5$ K. This makes J1957+5033 the coldest among all known thermally emitting neutron stars with ages below 1 Myr. Using the interstellar extinction--distance relation, we constrain the distance to the pulsar in the range of 0.1--1 kpc. We compare the obtained X-ray thermal luminosity with those for other neutron stars and various neutron star cooling models and set some constraints on latter. We observe a faint trail-like feature, elongated $\sim 8$ arcmin from J1957+5033. Its spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index $\Gamma=1.9\pm0.5$ suggesting that it is likely a pulsar wind nebula powered by J1957+5033.