Title: PSR J1838-0537: Discovery of a young, energetic gamma-ray pulsar Authors: H. J. Pletsch, L. Guillemot, B. Allen, M. Kramer, C. Aulbert, H. Fehrmann, M. G. Baring, F. Camilo, P. A. Caraveo, J. E. Grove, M. Kerr, M. Marelli, S. M. Ransom, P. S. Ray, P. M. Saz Parkinson
We report the discovery of PSR J1838-0537, a gamma-ray pulsar found through a blind search of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). The pulsar has a spin frequency of 6.9 Hz and a frequency derivative of -2.2e-11 Hz/s, implying a young characteristic age of 4970 years and a large spin-down power of 5.9e36 erg/s. Follow-up observations with radio telescopes detected no pulsations, thus PSR J1838-0537 appears radio-quiet as viewed from Earth. In September 2009 the pulsar suffered the largest glitch so far seen in any gamma-ray-only pulsar, causing a relative increase in spin frequency of about 5.5e-6. After the glitch, during a putative recovery period, the timing analysis is complicated by the sparsity of the LAT photon data, the weakness of the pulsations, and the reduction in average exposure from a coincidental, contemporaneous change in the LAT's sky-survey observing pattern. The pulsar's sky position is coincident with the spatially extended TeV source HESS J1841-055 detected by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). The inferred energetics suggest that HESS J1841-055 contains a pulsar wind nebula powered by the pulsar.
Max Planck scientists discover a young and energetic neutron star with unusually irregular rotation
Pulsars are superlative cosmic beacons. These compact neutron stars rotate about their axes many times per second, emitting radio waves and gamma radiation into space. Using ingenious data analysis methods, researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Gravitational Physics and for Radio Astronomy, in an international collaboration, dug a very special gamma-ray pulsar out of data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The pulsar J1838-0537 is radio-quiet, very young, and, during the observation period, experienced the strongest rotation glitch ever observed for a gamma-ray-only pulsar.