The duck redux: an improved proper motion upper limit for the pulsar b1757-24 near the supernova remnant g5.4-1.2

Dec, 2005
8 pages
Published in:
  • Astrophys.J. 652 (2006) 1523-1530
e-Print:

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Abstract: (arXiv)
The Duck is a complicated non-thermal radio system, consisting of the energetic radio pulsar B1757-24, its surrounding pulsar wind nebula G5.27-0.90 and the adjacent supernova remnant (SNR) G5.4-1.2. PSR B1757-24 was originally claimed to be a young (~15 000 yr) and extreme velocity (>~1500 km/s) pulsar which had penetrated and emerged from the shell of the associated SNR G5.4-1.2, but recent upper limits on the pulsar's motion have raised serious difficulties with this interpretation. We here present 8.5 GHz interferometric observations of the nebula G5.27-0.90 over a 12-year baseline, doubling the time-span of previous measurements. These data correspondingly allow us to halve the previous upper limit on the nebula's westward motion to 14 milliarcseconds/yr (5-sigma), allowing a substantive reevaluation of this puzzling object. We rule out the possibility that the pulsar and SNR were formed from a common supernova explosion ~15 000 yrs ago as implied by the pulsar's characteristic age, but conclude that an old (>~70 000 yr) pulsar / SNR association, or a situation in which the pulsar and SNR are physically unrelated, are both still viable explanations.
  • ISM: individual (G5.4-1.2)
  • pulsars: individual (B1757-24)
  • radio continuum: ISM
  • stars: neutron
  • supernova remnants