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An international team of astronomers has reported the discovery of a new pulsar, which received the designation PSR J1631–4722. The newfound pulsar, which is young and energetic, turns out to be associated with a supernova remnant known as SNR G336.7+0.5. The finding was detailed in a research paper Dec. 16 on the arXiv pre-print server.

Pulsars are highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars emitting a beam of electromagnetic radiation. They are usually detected in the form of short bursts of radio emission; however, some of them are also observed via optical, X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes.

Pulsars directly associated with known supernova remnants (SNRs) are generally rare as only dozens of such objects have been discovered to date. Finding these associations is crucial for astronomers as they could shed more light on pulsar formation history and supernova explosion mechanisms.

In the recently published study, a group of astronomers led by Adeel Ahmad of Western Sydney University in Australia, reports the finding of such a rare pulsar-SNR association. Using Murriyang, the 64-m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope, they identified a new radio pulsar within the SNR G336.7+0.5.

"We report the discovery of a highly scattered, young pulsar PSR J1631–4722 at above 2 GHz frequency in a targeted observation with the UWL [Ultra-Wideband Low] receiver of Murriyang. The pulsar is associated with the SNR G336.7+0.5 located in the Galactic plane," the researcher wrote in the paper.

The newfound pulsar has a spin period of 118 milliseconds and a relatively high dispersion measure of 873 pc/cm³. Its rotation measure was measured to be approximately -1,004 rad/m². These results indicate that PSR J1631–4722 is one of only a few known highly scattered pulsars.

Further investigation of PSR J1631–4722 found that it has a characteristic age of 33,800 years and a spin-down luminosity of 1.3 undecillion erg/s. The surface magnetic field strength of PSR J1631–4722 was calculated to be about 2.6 TG.

According to the paper, the distance to the pulsar was estimated to be about 22,800 light years, while the supernova remnant is assumed to be located between 22,100 and 29,700 light years. The obtained images suggest that the pulsar is moving away from the supernova explosion site.

The study also found that PSR J1631–4722 is linearly polarized with weak circular polarization, and the highest fractional linear polarization is observed at 3.8 GHz. The authors of the paper noted that the high degree of linear polarization is a characteristic of highly energetic and young pulsars.

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