Spitzer Space Telescope - General Observer Proposal #30822


Fallback Debris Disks Around Neutron Stars

Principal Investigator: Deepto Chakrabarty
           Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Co-Investigators: 
Zhongxiang Wang, MIT                                                  
David Kaplan, MIT                                                     

Science Category: compact objects 
 Observing Modes: IracMap 
  Hours Approved: 14.8 

Abstract:
Our Spitzer/IRAC discovery of a dusty debris disk around the young
neutron star 4U 0142+61 is the first detection of a fallback disk
around a neutron star.  Fallback, the notion that some material from a
supernova explosion could remain bound to the compact remnant, is a
general prediction of core-collapse supernova models, yet until now
there were few if any meaningful observational constraints on the size
(or existence) of such disks.  Here we propose to test the ubiquity of
such disks with deep IRAC observations of two young neutron stars,
each a representative of a different class of object (a
rotation-powered pulsar and a radio-quiet neutron star in a supernova
remnant).  We will examine whether fallback disks are common to all
neutron stars or depend on the factors that separate these classes.
Our proposed observations will pave the way for future surveys and
in-depth investigations of individual objects.