Astronomy:PSR B0355+54

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Short description: Isolated radio pulsar in the constellation Camelopardalis
PSR B0355+54
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Image depicting pulsar wind nebula of PSR B0355+54 and Geminga
Observation data
Equinox J2000.0]] (ICRS)
Constellation Camelopardalis[1]
Right ascension  03h 58m 53.72s[2]
Declination +54° 13′ 13.7″[2]
Characteristics
Spectral type Pulsar
Astrometry
Parallax (π)0.91 ± 0.16[3] mas
Distanceapprox. 3,600 ly
(approx. 1,100 pc)
Details
Rotation0.156384121559 s
Age564,000 years
Other designations
PSR J0355+54, GAL 148.2+00.8[2]
Database references
SIMBADdata

PSR B0355+54 (also known as PSR J0358+5413) is a radio pulsar located in the constellation of Camelopardalis. It is a middle-aged, isolated neutron star with a characteristic age of approximately 564,000 years and a spin period of 0.1563 seconds. The pulsar is notable for its extended pulsar wind nebula (PWN), which exhibits a comet-like morphology due to the pulsar's supersonic motion through the interstellar medium. Discovered in 1982 during the second Cambridge pulsar survey, it has been extensively studied in radio, X-ray, and other wavelengths to understand pulsar energetics, particle acceleration, and nebula dynamics.[3][4][5]

Discovery

PSR B0355+54 was discovered in 1982 as part of the second Cambridge pulsar survey conducted at 81.5 MHz using the Cambridge Low-Frequency Synthesis Telescope. Initial observations confirmed its period and dispersion measure, establishing it as a radio pulsar at a distance of approximately 1 kpc. Subsequent high-resolution studies refined its parameters, including proper motion and parallax measurements from very long baseline interferometry.[6][7]

Pulsar wind nebula

The PWN of PSR B0355+54 is one of the best-studied examples of a bow-shock nebula, often described as resembling a "space jellyfish". Deep Chandra X-ray Observatory observations (totaling 395 ks) reveal a compact head (~5 arcseconds) and an extended tail up to 10 arcminutes long (~2 pc at the pulsar's distance). The tail shows minimal spectral cooling, suggesting either low magnetic fields with fast flow or ongoing particle reacceleration. X-ray efficiency is low (~1% of Ė in the 2–10 keV band), and faint orthogonal extensions to the proper motion direction have been noted.[5][3]

Pulsar wind nebula of PSR B0355+54

The nebula's morphology indicates a small angle between the spin axis and line of sight, similar to the pulsar Geminga. No termination shock is evident, and comparisons with other PWNs like those of PSR J0357+3205 highlight shared dynamics in supersonic pulsar motion.[8]

Emission

Radio

Radio observations at frequencies like 2.25 GHz and 8.6 GHz have probed interstellar scintillation, revealing diffractive and refractive effects in the turbulent medium. Recent studies (2023–2024) using telescopes like FAST have analyzed profile variations over narrow frequency ranges around 1250 MHz, confirming stable flux densities. The pulsar is often used as a calibrator in observations of fast radio bursts and millisecond pulsars.[6][9][10]

X-ray

X-ray emission, detected by Chandra and XMM-Newton, includes thermal components from the neutron star surface (~106 K) and non-thermal magnetospheric emission. Pulsed X-rays match the radio period, with a hard spectrum (photon index Γ ≈ 1.4) in the compact nebula.[4][3][7]

Other

No pulsed gamma-ray emission has been detected, despite the pulsar's age and spin-down energy making it a potential candidate for Fermi-LAT observations. Searches for TeV gamma-rays from the nebula using VERITAS have yielded upper limits.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Roman, Nancy G. (1987). "Identification of a constellation from a position". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 99 (617): 695. doi:10.1086/132034. Bibcode: 1987PASP...99..695R  Constellation record for this object at VizieR.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "PSR B0355+54". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=PSR+B0355%2B54. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Klingler, Noel; Rangelov, Blagoy; Kargaltsev, Oleg; Pavlov, George G.; Romani, Roger W.; Posselt, Bettina; Slane, Patrick; Temim, Tea et al. (2016-12-20). "Deep Chandra Observations of the Pulsar Wind Nebula Created by PSR B0355+54". The Astrophysical Journal 833 (2): 253. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/833/2/253. ISSN 0004-637X. Bibcode: 2016ApJ...833..253K. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tepedelenlioǧlu, E.; Ogelman, H. (April 2007). "Discovery of Extended Emission around the Pulsar B0355+54" (in en). The Astrophysical Journal 658 (2): 1183–1187. doi:10.1086/510995. ISSN 0004-637X. Bibcode: 2007ApJ...658.1183T. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/510995. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Astronomers Study the Pulsar Wind Nebula Created by PSR B0355+54" (in en-US). 2016-11-07. https://scitechdaily.com/astronomers-study-the-pulsar-wind-nebula-created-by-psr-b035554/. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Xu, Y H; Lee, K J; Hao, L F; Wang, H G; Liu, Z Y; Yue, Y L; Yuan, J P; Li, Z X et al. (2018-06-01). "Interstellar scintillation observations for PSR B0355+54" (in en). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 476 (4): 5579–5590. doi:10.1093/mnras/sty566. ISSN 0035-8711. https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/476/4/5579/4969614. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 McGowan, Katherine E.; Vestrand, W. Thomas; Kennea, Jamie A.; Zane, Silvia; Cropper, Mark; Córdova, France A. (2007-04-01). "RETRACTED ARTICLE: X-ray observations of PSR B0355+54 and its pulsar wind nebula" (in en). Astrophysics and Space Science 308 (1): 309–316. doi:10.1007/s10509-007-9319-9. ISSN 1572-946X. Bibcode: 2007Ap&SS.308..309M. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-007-9319-9. 
  8. ↑ McGowan, K. E.; Vestrand, W. T.; Kennea, J. A.; Zane, S.; Cropper, M.; Cordova, F. A. (2006-08-20). "Probing the Pulsar Wind Nebula of PSR B0355+54" (in en). The Astrophysical Journal 647 (2): 1300–1308. doi:10.1086/505522. ISSN 0004-637X. Bibcode: 2006ApJ...647.1300M. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/505522. 
  9. ↑ Jiang, Shibo; Li, Lin; Yuen, Rai; Yuan, Jianping; Yao, Jumei; Shi, Xun; Xu, Yonghua; Chen, Jianling et al. (2024-11-06). "Profile Variation in PSR B0355+54 over a Narrow Frequency Range" (in en). Universe 10 (11): 416. doi:10.3390/universe10110416. ISSN 2218-1997. Bibcode: 2024Univ...10..416J. 
  10. ↑ Braga, C. A.; Cruces, M.; Cassanelli, T.; Espinoza-Dupouy, M. C.; Rodriguez, L.; Spitler, L. G.; Vera-Casanova, J.; Limaye, P. (2025-01-01). "FRB 20121102A monitoring: Updated periodicity in the L band" (in en). Astronomy & Astrophysics 693: A40. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202451905. ISSN 0004-6361. Bibcode: 2025A&A...693A..40B. https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2025/01/aa51905-24/aa51905-24.html. 
  11. ↑ Benbow, Wystan; Brill, A.; Buckley, James; Capasso, M.; Chromey, A.; Errando, M.; Falcone, Abraham; Farrell, K. A. et al. (2021-05-28), "A Search for TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from Pulsar Tails by VERITAS", The Astrophysical Journal 916 (2): 117, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac05b9, Bibcode: 2021ApJ...916..117B, http://arxiv.org/abs/2105.13911, retrieved 2025-10-24 



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