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Session: Cosmology and Relativistic Astrophysics

Name: Prof. Konstantinos Gourgouliatos (University of Patras)
Coauthors: No coauthors were included.
Type: Oral
Title: Pulsar - Supernova Remnant Associations: Implications for magnetic field evolution and pulsar initial periods
Abstract:

Neutron stars form through core-collapse supernova explosions which leave behind, along with the compact object, a supernova remnant (SNR). We have studied the SNR cat (Ferrand & Safi-Harb 2012), and identified 56 pulsars for which there exists both an estimate of the characteristic age of the pulsar and that of the hosting SNR. The discrepancy between these age estimates provides a means to quantify possible deviations from the pulsar spin-down dipole model and estimate their initial periods. We find that distribution of magnetic fields and periods for radio pulsars are both well described using the lognormal distribution. The mean magnetic field is log_{10}[B/G] = 12.44 and standard deviation is σ_B = 0.44. Magnetars and central compact objects do not follow the same distribution. The mean initial period is log_{10}P0[P/s]=−1.04(+0.15−0.2) and standard deviation is σ_p=0.53(+0.12−0.08). We show that the normal distribution does not describe the initial periods of NSs sufficiently well.