Template:Short description Template:Starbox begin Template:Starbox observe Template:Starbox character Template:Starbox astrometry Template:Starbox detail Template:Starbox catalog Template:Starbox reference Template:Starbox end PSR J2144−3933 is a pulsar about 180 parsecs (587 light-years) from Earth. It is the coldest known neutron star with a surface temperature less than 42000 Kelvin as measured by the Hubble Space Telescope.<ref name="HSTcoldest">Template:Cite journal</ref> It was previously thought to have a period of 2.84 seconds but is now known to have a period of 8.51 seconds, which is among the longest-known radio pulsar.
J2144−3933 is also notable for other reasons: its mean pulse profile is very narrow in comparison to the pulse period with a half-intensity width of less than one degree of longitude. It also has the lowest spindown luminosity of any pulsar at about 3×1021 watts.
Writing in Nature, astrophysicists M. D. Young and coworkers consider this object and suggest that its existence throws current theories into doubt. They state:
- Moreover, under the usual model assumptions, based on the neutron-star equations of state, this slowly rotating pulsar should not be emitting a radio beam. Therefore either the model assumptions are wrong, or current theories of radio emission must be revised<ref name="Nature400">Template:Cite journal</ref>
The fact that J2144−3933 is the coldest observed neutron star has been exploited to constrain the properties of dark matter.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?protocol=html&Ident=PSR+J2144-3933&NbIdent=1&Radius=2&Radius.unit=arcmin&submit=submit+id
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}