RXTE Observation of PSR B0656+14

Hsiang-Kuang Chang, Cheng Ho

Published 1998-08-11Version 1

PSR B0656+14 was observed by the {\it Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE)} with the proportional counter array (PCA) and the high-energy x-ray timing experiment (HEXTE) for 160 ksec during August 22 -- September 3, 1997. No pulsation was firmly found in the timing analysis, in which the contemporaneous radio ephemeris and various statistical tests were applied for searching evidence of pulsation. A marginal detection of pulsation at a confidence level of 95.5% based on the $H$-test was found with data in the whole HEXTE energy band. In the energy band of 2-10 keV the {\it RXTE} PCA upper limits are about one order of magnitude lower than that from {\it ASCA} GIS data. If the {\it CGRO} EGRET detection of this pulsar is real, considering the common trait that most EGRET-detected pulsars have a cooling spectrum in hard x-ray and gamma ray energy bands, the estimated {\it RXTE} upper limits indicate a deviation (low-energy turn-over) from a cooling spectrum starting from 20 keV or higher. It in turn suggests an outer-magnetospheric synchrotron-radiation origin for high-energy emissions from PSR B0656+14. The {\it RXTE} PCA upper limits also suggest that a reported power-law component based on {\it ASCA} SIS data in 1-10 keV fitted jointly with {\it ROSAT} data, if real, should be mainly unpulsed.