Arxiv:1411.0399V2 [Astro-Ph.HE] 16 Mar 2016 to the X-Ray Luminosity Indicate That PSR J1745-2900 Is Not a Rotation-Powered Pulsar but a Magnetar
Draft version March 17, 2016 Preprint typeset using LATEX style emulateapj v. 5/2/11 THE PROPER MOTION OF THE GALACTIC CENTER PULSAR RELATIVE TO SAGITTARIUS A* Geoffrey C. Bower1, Adam Deller2, Paul Demorest3, Andreas Brunthaler4, Heino Falcke5,2,4, Monika Moscibrodzka5, Ryan M. O'Leary6, Ralph P. Eatough4, Michael Kramer4,7, K.J. Lee4, Laura Spitler4, Gregory Desvignes4, Anthony P. Rushton8,9, Sheperd Doeleman10,11, Mark J. Reid11 Draft version March 17, 2016 ABSTRACT We measure the proper motion of the pulsar PSR J1745-2900 relative to the Galactic Center massive black hole, Sgr A*, using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The pulsar has a transverse velocity of 236 ± 11 km s−1 at position angle 22 ± 2 deg East of North at a projected separation of 0.097 pc from Sgr A*. Given the unknown radial velocity, this transverse velocity measurement does not conclusively prove that the pulsar is bound to Sgr A*; however, the probability of chance alignment is very small. We do show that the velocity and position is consistent with a bound orbit originating in < −1 the clockwise disk of massive stars orbiting Sgr A* and a natal velocity kick of ∼ 500 km s . An origin among the isotropic stellar cluster is possible but less probable. If the pulsar remains radio-bright, multi-year astrometry of PSR J1745-2900 can detect its acceleration and determine the full three- dimensional orbit. We also demonstrate that PSR J1745-2900 exhibits the same angular broadening as Sgr A* over a wavelength range of 3.6 cm to 0.7 cm, further confirming that the two sources share the same interstellar scattering properties.
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