SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL 52063
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
Z
STONY BROOK
NY USA 11794-2100
Tel: 516-632-8232 Fax: 516-632-8240
Medium: 2GBDAT
Subject: STARS
THE X-RAY SPECTRUM OF AN ISOLATED OLD NEUTRON STAR
ABSTRACT
RXJ185635-3754 is a 57 eV black body at a distance <120pc, with an emitting area of 480 sq km. It is likely to be a isolated old neutron star. We propose to examine the 2-10 keV spectrum. If magnetized, theory predicts the existence of cyclotron line emission in the 6-15 keV regime. If accreting, we expect a power-law tail to high energies. We propose an ASCA observation to search for this hard X-ray emission. Detection of the accretion spectrum would provide limits to the space velocity, while detection of the line could confirm that the source is a neutron star accreting from the interstellar medium. Absence of a cyclotron line demonstrates that either the magnetic field is less than 10^12G or the star is not accreting.
CO-INVESTIGATORS
| CO-I NAME | INSTITUTE | COUNTRY |
|---|
| PENGHUI AN | SUNY STONY BROOK | USA |
| JOHN WANG | UNIV. OF MARYLAND | USA |
| STEVEN SKINNER | JILA, U. COLORADO | USA |
| ROBERT NELSON | CITA | CANADA |
| JAMES LATTIMER | SUNY STONY BROOK | USA |
TARGETS
| TARGET NAME | PRI | RA | DEC | TIME | TC | OFF | GIS | SIS CNT | OBS |
|---|
| 1)RXJ185635-3754 | 2 | 284.1471 | -37.9089 | 40 ks | N | Y | P | 0.08000 | 1 |
TARGET 1
ACCEPTED AS CATEGORY C TARGET IN AO4, BUT NOT SCHEDULED