Radio Detection of PSR J1813-1749 in HESS J1813-178: The Most Scattered Pulsar Known

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of radio pulsations from PSR J1813-1749, the most scattered pulsar known, revealing its extreme scattering properties and implications for its distance and luminosity in the Galaxy.

Contribution

First detection of radio pulsations from PSR J1813-1749 at high frequencies, demonstrating extreme scattering effects and refining its distance estimate.

Findings

Pulsations detected at 4.4-10.2 GHz with high scattering

Scattering timescale longer than any other pulsar at these frequencies

Distance estimated at 6.2 or 12 kpc, affecting luminosity classification

Abstract

The 44.7 ms X-ray pulsar in the supernova remnant G12.82-0.02/HESS J1813-178 has the second highest spin-down luminosity of known pulsars in the Galaxy, with E-dot=5.6e37 erg/s. Using the Green Bank Telescope, we have detected radio pulsations from PSR J1813-1749 at 4.4-10.2 GHz. The pulse is highly scattered, with an exponential decay timescale \tau longer than that of any other pulsar at these frequencies. A point source detected at this position by Dzib et al. in several observations with the Jansky Very Large Array can be attributed to the pulsed emission. The steep dependence of \tau on observing frequency explains why all previous pulsation searches at lower frequencies failed (\tau~0.25 s at 2 GHz). The large dispersion measure, DM=1087 pc/cc, indicates a distance of either 6.2 or 12 kpc according to two widely used models of the electron density distribution in the Galaxy. These disfavor a previously suggested association with a young stellar cluster at the closer distance of 4.8 kpc. The high X-ray measured column density of ~1e23/cm^2 also supports a large distance. If at d~12 kpc, HESS J1813-178 would be one of the most luminous TeV sources in the Galaxy.