Revisiting the birth locations of pulsars B1929+10, B2020+28, and B2021+51
Journal article, 2015

We present new proper motion and parallax measurements obtained with the European VLBI Network (EVN) at 5 GHz for the three isolated pulsars B1929 + 10, B2020 + 28, and B2021 + 51. For B1929 + 10 we combined our data with earlier VLBI measurements and confirm the robustness of the astrometric parameters of this pulsar. For pulsars B2020 + 28 and B2021 + 51 our observations indicate that both stars are almost a factor of two closer to the solar system than previously thought, placing them at a distance of 1.39(-0.06)(+0.05) and 1.25(-0.17)(+0.14) kpc. Using our new astrometry, we simulated the orbits of all three pulsars in the Galactic potential with the aim to confirm or reject previously proposed birth locations. Our observations ultimately rule out a claimed binary origin of B1929 + 10 and the runaway star zeta Ophiuchi in Upper Scorpius. A putative common binary origin of B2020 + 28 and B2021 + 51 in the Cygnus Superbubble is also very unlikely.

proper motions

pulsars: individual: B2021+51

techniques: interferometric

parallaxes

pulsars: individual: B2020+28

pulsars: individual: B1929+10

Author

F. Kirsten

University of Bonn

Curtin University

Max Planck Society

Wouter Vlemmings

Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics

R. M. Campbell

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

M. Kramer

Max Planck Society

S. Chatterjee

Cornell University

Astronomy and Astrophysics

0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)

Vol. 577 A111

Advanced Radio Astronomy in Europe (RADIONET-FP7)

European Commission (EC) (EC/FP7/227290), 2009-01-01 -- 2012-06-30.

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Roots

Basic sciences

Infrastructure

Onsala Space Observatory

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/201425562

More information

Latest update

4/5/2022 6