[Previous] | [Session 8] | [Next]
F.P. Gavriil, V.M. Kaspi (McGill University)
We report on the results of long-term monitoring of all five confirmed Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). Specifically, we describe the significant pulsed flux variability exhibited by AXP 1E~1048.1-5937. The principal features of this variability are two pulsed X-ray flares which lasted several months and had well resolved few-week-long rises. The long rise times of the flares is a phenomenon not previously reported for this class of object. We also report large (factor of ~12) changes to the pulsar's spin-down rate on time scales of weeks to months, shorter than has been reported previously. We find marginal evidence for correlation between the flux and spin-down rate variability, which we argue poses another significant challenge to any disk-accretion model for AXPs, but is not inconsistent with the magnetar model.
This work is funded by NSERC, FQRNT, CIAR, and NASA.
If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~gavriil/research/conferences/head2004.html. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gavriil@physics.mcgill.ca
[Previous] | [Session 8] | [Next]
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.