A Coherent Timing Solution for the Nearby Isolated Neutron Star RX J0720.4-3125
- 27 June 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Astronomical Society in The Astrophysical Journal
- Vol. 628 (1) , L45-L48
- https://doi.org/10.1086/432536
Abstract
We present the results of a dedicated effort to measure the spin-down rate of the nearby isolated neutron star RX J0720.4-3125. Comparing arrival times of the 8.39 s pulsations for data from Chandra, we derive an unambiguous timing solution for RX J0720.4-3125 that is accurate to 5 years. Adding data from XMM and ROSAT, the final solution yields = (6.98 ± 0.02) × 10-14 s s-1; for dipole spin-down, this implies a characteristic age of 2 Myr and a magnetic field strength of 2.4 × 1013 G. The phase residuals are somewhat larger than those for purely regular spin-down, but they do not show conclusive evidence for higher order terms or a glitch. From our timing solution as well as recent X-ray spectroscopy, we concur with recent suggestions that RX J0720.4-3125 is most likely an off-beam radio pulsar with a moderately high magnetic field.Keywords
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