Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 714, Issue 2, Pages 1424-1440Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/714/2/1424
Keywords
stars: neutron; X-rays: stars
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Using new and archival observations made with the Swift satellite and other facilities, we examine 147 X-ray sources selected from the ROSAT All-Sky-Survey Bright Source Catalog (RASS/BSC) to produce a new limit on the number of isolated neutron stars (INSs) in the RASS/BSC, the most constraining such limit to date. Independent of X-ray spectrum and variability, the number of INSs is <= 48 (90% confidence). Restricting attention to soft (kT(eff) < 200 eV), non-variable X-ray sources-as in a previous study-yields an all-sky limit of <= 31 INSs. In the course of our analysis, we identify five new high-quality INS candidates for targeted follow-up observations. A future all-sky X-ray survey with eROSITA, or another mission with similar capabilities, can be expected to increase the detected population of X-ray-discovered INSs from the 8-50 in the BSC, to (for a disk population) 240-1500, which will enable a more detailed study of neutron star population models.
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