Discovery Of A Possible Anomalous X-Ray Pulsar In The Small Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

We report the serendipitous detection of a previously unreported pulsar from the direction of the Small Magellanic Cloud using data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Because of its luminosity (∼1.5x10^(35) ergs s^(-1)), its near lack of variability for more than 20 yr, and its very soft spectrum, we propose that it is an anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP). Data from the ROSAT PSPC in conjunction with the Chandra data give a period, P, of 5.44 s and a spin-down time, P/P, of 11 kyr. If this is a correct identification, it will be the first extragalactic AXP and the fastest yet discovered.

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