AAS 201st Meeting, January, 2003
Session 118. Rotation-Powered Pulsars
Poster, Thursday, January 9, 2003, 9:20am-4:00pm, Exhibit Hall AB

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[118.01] The Radio Quiet Neutron Star RX J0720.4-3125

D. L. Kaplan, S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech), M. H. van Kerkwijk (U. Toronto), H. L. Marshall (MIT)

We review the soft, nearby, 8-s X-ray pulsar RX J0720.4-3125, concentrating on its spectral energy distribution from radio to X-rays. Using timing data and optical/UV photometry combined with cooling models, we have been able to reject the popular magnetar model for this source, and instead suggest that it is an off-beam radio pulsar. This source would then be either a (1) 1013 G pulsar born with P~0, or a (2) 1012 G pulsar that was injected with a birth period very close to its current period. The proximity of this source (< 500 pc) argues for a substatial population of similar objects.

DLK thanks the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation for their generous support.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: dlk@astro.caltech.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.