Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Searching for Debris Disks around Young Neutron Stars

Zhongxiang Wang

McGill University

The existence of disks around isolated neutron stars has long been predicted by theoretical studies. I will first present our work on searches for disks around two groups of young neutron stars: central compact objects and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs). In AXP 4U 0142+61, we have discovered strong mid-IR emission from it, which we interpret as an indication of a debris disk around the pulsar. Follow-up mid-IR observations of this and other AXPs will be presented. In addition, we have extended our search to disks around young radio pulsars.

I will present some preliminary results from this ongoing program.