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Register a new userRepeated state change of variable gamma-ray pulsar, PSR J2021+4026
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PSR J2021+4026 is a radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsar and the first pulsar that shows state change of the gamma-ray emission and spin-down rate. The state change of PSR J2021+4026 was first observed at 2011 October, at which the pulsar changes the state from high gamma-ray flux/low spin-down rate state to low gamma-ray flux/high spin-down rate st ate. In December 2014, PSR J2021+4026 recovered the state before the 2011 state change over a timescale of a few months. We report that the long term evolution of the gamma-ray flux and timing behavior suggests that PSR J2021+4026 changed the state near 2018 February 1st and entered a new low gamma-ray flux/high spin-down rate state. At the 2018 state change, the averaged flux dropped from $(1.29pm 0.01)times 10^{-6} {rm cts~cm^{-2}s^{-1}}$ to $(1.12pm 0.01)times 10^{-6} {rm cts~cm^{-2}s^{-1 }}$, which has the similar behavior to the case of 2011 event. The spin-down rate has increased by $sim 3%$ in the new state since the 2018 state change. The shapes of pulse profile and spectrum in GeV bands also changed at the 2018 event, and they are consistent with behavior at the 2011 state change. Our results probably suggest that PSR J2021+4026 is switching between different states with a timescale of several years, like some radio pulsars (e.g. PSR~B1828-11). PSR J2021+4026 will provide a unique opportunity to study the mechanism of the state switching.
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A glitch of a pulsar is known as a sudden increase in the spin frequency and spin-down rate (frequency time derivative), and it can be caused by a sudden rel ease of the stress built up in the solid crust of the star or pinned vortices in the superfluid interior. PSR J2021+4026 is the first pulsar that shows a significant change in the gamma-ray flux and pulse profile at the glitch that occurred around 2011 October 16. We report the results of timing and spectral analysis of PSR~J2021+4026 using $sim$ 8~yr Fermi-LAT data. We find that the pulsar stayed at a high spin-down rate ($sim 4%$ higher than the pre-glitch value) and a low gamma-ray state ($sim 18%$ lower) for about 3~yr after the glitch. Around 2014 December, the spin-down rate and gamma-ray flux gradually returned to pre-glitch values within a time scale of a few months. The phase-resolved spectra and pulse profiles after the relaxation are also consistent with those before the glitch. The observed long-term evolution of the spin-down rate and the gamma-ray flux indicates that the glitch triggered a mode change in the global magnetosphere. We speculate that the glitch changed the local magnetic field structure around the polar cap and/or the inclination angle of the dipole axis, leading to a change in the electric current circulating in the magnetosphere.
PSR~J2021+4026 showed a sudden decrease in the gamma-ray emission at the glitch that occurred around 2011, October 16, and a relaxation of the flux to the pre-glitch state at around 2014 December. We report X-ray analysis results of the data observed by XMM-Newton on 2015 December 20 in the post-relaxation state. To examine any change in the X-ray emission, we compare the properties of the pulse profiles and spectra at the low gamma-ray flux state and at the post-relaxation state. The phase-averaged spectra for both states can be well described by a power-law component plus a blackbody component. The former is dominated by unpulsed emission and is probably originated from the pulsar wind nebula as reported by Hui et al (2015). The emission property of the blackbody component is consistent with the emission from the polar cap heated by the back-flow bombardment of the high-energy electrons or positrons that were accelerated in the magnetosphere. We found no significant change in the X-ray emission properties between two states. We suggest that the change of the X-ray luminosity is at an order of ~4%, which is difficult to measure with the current observations. We model the observed X-ray light curve with the heated polar cap emission and we speculate that the observed large pulsed fraction is owing to asymmetric magnetospheric structure.
Pulsars are rapidly spinning and highly magnetized neutron stars, with highly stable rotational period and gradual spin-down over a long timescale due to the loss of radiation. Glitches refer to the events that suddenly increase the rotational speed of a pulsar. The exact causes of glitches and the resulting processes are not fully understood. It is generally believed that couplings between the normal matter and the superfluid components, and the starquakes, are the common causes of glitches. In this study, one famous glitching pulsar, PSR~J2021+4026, is investigated. PSR~J2021+4026 is the first variable gamma-ray pulsar observed by Fermi. From the gamma-ray observations, it is found that the pulsar experienced a significant flux drop, an increase in the spin-down rate, a change in the pulse profile and a shift in the spectral cut-off to a lower energy, simultaneously around 2011 October 16. To explain these effects on the high-energy emissions by the glitch of PSR~J2021+4026, we hypothesized the glitch to be caused by the rearrangement of the surface magnetic field due to the crustal plate tectonic activities on the pulsar which is triggered by a starquake. In this glitch event, the inclination angle of the magnetic dipole axis is slightly shifted. This proposition is then tested by numerical modeling using a three-dimensional two-layer outer gap model. The simulation results indicate that a modification of the inclination angle can affect the pulse profile and the spectral properties, which can explain the observation changes after the glitch.
We have investigated the field around the radio-quiet $gamma$-ray pulsar, PSR J2021+4026, with a ~140 ks XMM-Newton observation and a ~56 ks archival Chandra data. Through analyzing the pulsed spectrum, we show that the X-ray pulsation is purely thermal in nature which suggests the pulsation is originated from a hot polar cap with $Tsim3times10^{6}$ K on the surface of a rotating neutron star. On the other hand, the power-law component that dominates the pulsar emission in the hard band is originated from off-pulse phases, which possibly comes from a pulsar wind nebula. In re-analyzing the Chandra data, we have confirmed the presence of bow-shock nebula which extends from the pulsar to west by ~10 arcsec. The orientation of this nebular feature suggests that the pulsar is probably moving eastward which is consistent with the speculated proper motion by extrapolating from the nominal geometrical center of the supernova remnant (SNR) G78.2+2.1 to the current pulsar position. For G78.2+2.1, our deep XMM-Newton observation also enables a study of the central region and part of the southeastern region with superior photon statistics. The column absorption derived for the SNR is comparable with that for PSR J2021+4026, which supports their association. The remnant emission in both examined regions are in an non-equilibrium ionization state. Also, the elapsed time of both regions after shock-heating is apparently shorter than the Sedov age of G78.2+2.1. This might suggest the reverse shock has reached the center not long ago. Apart from PSR J2021+4026 and G78.2+2.1, we have also serendipitously detected an X-ray flash-like event XMM J202154.7+402855 from this XMM-Newton observation.
We report the probable identification of the X-ray counterpart to the gamma-ray pulsar PSR J2021+4026 using imaging with the Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS and timing analysis with the Fermi satellite. Given the statistical and systematic errors, the positions determined by both satellites are coincident. The X-ray source position is R.A. 20h21m30.733s, Decl. +40 deg 26 min 46.04sec (J2000) with an estimated uncertainty of 1.3 arsec combined statistical and systematic error. Moreover, both the X-ray to gamma-ray and the X-ray to optical flux ratios are sensible assuming a neutron star origin for the X-ray flux. The X-ray source has no cataloged infrared-to-visible counterpart and, through new observations, we set upper limits to its optical emission of i >23.0 mag and r > 25.2mag. The source exhibits an X-ray spectrum with most likely both a powerlaw and a thermal component. We also report on the X-ray and visible light properties of the 43 other sources detected in our Chandra observation.
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