Young Crab‐like Pulsars and Luminous X‐Ray Sources in Starbursts and Optically Dull Galaxies

Perna, Rosalba; Stella, L.

doi:10.1086/423950

Cited by 23 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(63 reference statements)

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“…As the width of the velocity dispersion increases, the predicted X‐ray luminosity distribution becomes more and more heavily weighed towards higher luminosities (see fig. 1 in Perna & Stella 2004). Therefore, the limits that we derive in this section would be even stronger if were larger than what we assume.…”

Section: Observational Constraints On the Pulsar X‐ray Luminositiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How rapidly do neutron stars spin at birth? Constraints from archival X-ray observations of extragalactic supernovae

Perna

Soria

Pooley

et al. 2008

Monthly Notices RAS

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Traditionally, studies aimed at inferring the distribution of birth periods of neutron stars are based on radio surveys. Here we propose an independent method to constrain the pulsar spin periods at birth based on their X‐ray luminosities. In particular, the observed luminosity distribution of supernovae (SNe) poses a constraint on the initial rotational energy of the embedded pulsars, via the correlation found for radio pulsars, and under the assumption that this relation continues to hold beyond the observed range. We have extracted X‐ray luminosities (or limits) for a large sample of historical SNe observed with Chandra, XMM and Swift, which have been firmly classified as core‐collapse SNe. We have then compared these observational limits with the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the pulsar X‐ray luminosity distribution for a range of values of the birth parameters. We find that a pulsar population dominated by millisecond periods at birth is ruled out by the data.

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Section: Observational Constraints On the Pulsar X‐ray Luminositiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How rapidly do neutron stars spin at birth? Constraints from archival X-ray observations of extragalactic supernovae

Perna

Soria

Pooley

et al. 2008

Monthly Notices RAS

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“…The birthrate of pulsars is correlated with star formation, and pulsars should be present in large numbers in starbursts (cf. Perna & Stella 2004;Mannheim et al 2012). Their spin-down luminosities could provide enough power to be comparable to the main component of CRs (Lacki et al 2011).…”

Section: Primary Electronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffuse Hard X-Ray Emission in Starburst Galaxies as Synchrotron From Very High Energy Electrons

Lacki

Thompson

2012

ApJ

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The origin of the diffuse hard X-ray (2-10 keV) emission from starburst galaxies is a long-standing problem. We suggest that synchrotron emission of 10-100 TeV electrons and positrons (e ± ) can contribute to this emission, because starbursts have strong magnetic fields. We consider three sources of e ± at these energies: (1) primary electrons directly accelerated by supernova remnants, (2) pionic secondary e ± created by inelastic collisions between cosmic ray (CR) protons and gas nuclei in the dense interstellar medium of starbursts, and (3) pair e ± produced between the interactions between 10 and 100 TeV γ -rays and the intense far-infrared (FIR) radiation fields of starbursts. We create one-zone steady-state models of the CR population in the Galactic center (R 112 pc), NGC 253, M82, and Arp 220's nuclei, assuming a power-law injection spectrum for electrons and protons. We consider different injection spectral slopes, magnetic field strengths, CR acceleration efficiencies, and diffusive escape times, and include advective escape, radiative cooling processes, and secondary and pair e ± . We compare these models to extant radio and GeV and TeV γ -ray data for these starbursts, and calculate the diffuse synchrotron X-ray and inverse Compton (IC) luminosities of these starbursts in the models which satisfy multiwavelength constraints. If the primary electron spectrum extends to ∼PeV energies and has a proton/electron injection ratio similar to the Galactic value, we find that synchrotron emission contributes 2%-20% of their unresolved, diffuse hard X-ray emission. However, there is great uncertainty in this conclusion because of the limited information on the CR electron spectrum at these high energies. IC emission is likewise a minority of the unresolved X-ray emission in these starbursts, from 0.1% in the Galactic center to 10% in Arp 220's nuclei, with the main uncertainty being the starbursts' magnetic field. We also model generic starbursts, including submillimeter galaxies, in the context of the FIR-X-ray relation, finding that anywhere between 0% and 16% of the total hard X-ray emission is synchrotron for different parameters, and up to 2% in the densest starbursts assuming an E −2.2 injection spectrum and a diffusive escape time of 10 Myr (E/3 GeV) −1/2 (h/100 pc). Neutrino observations by IceCube and TeV γ -ray data from HESS, VERITAS, and CTA can further constrain the synchrotron X-ray emission of starbursts. Our models do not constrain the possibility of hard, second components of primary e ± from sources like pulsars in starbursts, which could enhance the synchrotron X-ray emission further.

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“…The properties of this population as a whole (see Fabbiano 1989, for a review) hint that we might be actually observing a heterogeneous population, where super‐Eddington luminosities could for example be the result of a photon‐bubble instability (Begelman 2002) or could be apparent as a result of strong beaming (King et al 2001). A contribution to the high‐end tail of the X‐ray point‐source luminosity distribution could also be the result of young millisecond pulsars (Perna & Stella 2004). However, accreting IMBHs constitute an obvious candidate for the ULXs, as it has been often suggested (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamical evolution of intermediate-mass black holes and their observable signatures in the nearby Universe

Volonteri

Perna²

2005

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

114

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We investigate the consequences of a model of the assembly and growth of massive black holes (MBHs) from primordial seeds, remnants of the first generation of stars in a hierarchical structure formation scenario. Our model traces the build‐up of MBHs from an early epoch, and follows the merger history of dark matter haloes and their associated holes via Monte Carlo realizations of the merger hierarchy, from early times to the present time, in a Λ cold dark matter cosmology. The sequence of minor and major mergers experienced by galactic haloes in their hierarchical growth affects the merger history of MBHs embedded in their nuclei. So, if the formation route for the assembly of supermassive black holes dates back to the early universe, a large number of black hole (BH) interactions is inevitable. The coalescence time‐scales of binary black holes can be long enough for a third BH to fall in and interact with the central binary. These BH triple interactions lead typically to the final expulsion of one of the three bodies and to the recoil of the binary. Also, asymmetric emission of gravitational waves in the last stages of the BH merging can give a recoil velocity to the centre of mass of the coalescing binary. This scenario leads to the prediction of a population of intermediate‐mass black holes (IMBHs) wandering in galaxy haloes at the present epoch. We compute the luminosity distribution produced by these IMBHs accreting from their circumstellar medium. We find that in a Milky Way‐sized galaxy they are unable to account for sources with luminosities ≳ 1039 erg s−1, unless they carry a baryonic remnant from which they are able to accrete for a long time. We also find that, for typical spiral galaxies, the bright end of the point‐source distribution correlates with the mass of the galaxy and the most luminous sources are expected to be found in the disc.

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Young Crab‐like Pulsars and Luminous X‐Ray Sources in Starbursts and Optically Dull Galaxies

Cited by 23 publications

References 52 publications

How rapidly do neutron stars spin at birth? Constraints from archival X-ray observations of extragalactic supernovae

How rapidly do neutron stars spin at birth? Constraints from archival X-ray observations of extragalactic supernovae

Diffuse Hard X-Ray Emission in Starburst Galaxies as Synchrotron From Very High Energy Electrons

Dynamical evolution of intermediate-mass black holes and their observable signatures in the nearby Universe

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