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We report the discovery of a candidate X-ray supernova remnant SRGe J003602.3+605421 = G121.1−1.9 in the course of the SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey. The object is located at (l, b) = (121.1°, −1.9°), is ≈36 arcmin in angular size, and has a nearly circular shape. Clear variations in the spectral shape of the X-ray emission across the object are detected, with the emission from the inner (within 9 arcmin) and outer (9–18 arcmin) parts dominated by iron and oxygen/neon lines, respectively. The non-equilibrium plasma emission model is capable of describing the spectrum of the outer part with an initial gas temperature 0.1 keV, final temperature 0.5 keV, and ionization age ∼2 × 1010 cm−3 s. The observed spectrum of the inner region is more complicated (plausibly due to the contribution of the outer shell) and requires a substantial overabundance of iron for all models that we have tried. The derived X-ray absorption is equal to (4–6) × 1021 cm−2, locating the object at a distance beyond 1.5 kpc, and implying its age ∼(5–30) × 1000 yr. No bright radio, infrared, H α, or gamma-ray counterpart of this object has been found in the publicly available archival data. A model invoking a canonical 1051 erg explosion (either SN Ia or core collapse) in the hot and tenuous medium in the outer region of the Galaxy ∼9 kpc away might explain the bulk of the observed features. This scenario can be tested with future deep X-ray and radio observations.

 

ABSTRACT X Persei is a persistent low-luminosity X-ray pulsar of period of ≈ 835 s in a Be binary system. The field strength at the neutron star surface is not known precisely, but indirect signs indicate a magnetic field above 1013 G, which makes the object one of the most magnetized known X-ray pulsars. Here we present the results of observations X Persei performed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The X-ray polarization signal was found to be strongly dependent on the spin phase of the pulsar. The energy-averaged polarization degree in 3–8 keV band varied from several to ∼20 per cent over the pulse with a phase dependence resembling the pulse profile. The polarization angle shows significant variation and makes two complete revolutions during the pulse period, resulting in nearly nil pulse-phase averaged polarization. Applying the rotating vector model to the IXPE data we obtain the estimates for the rotation axis inclination and its position angle on the sky, as well as for the magnetic obliquity. The derived inclination is close to the orbital inclination, reported earlier for X Persei. The polarimetric data imply a large angle between the rotation and magnetic dipole axes, which is similar to the result reported recently for the X-ray pulsar GRO J1008−57. After eliminating the effect of polarization angle rotation over the pulsar phase using the best-fitting rotating vector model, the strong dependence of the polarization degree with energy was discovered, with its value increasing from 0 at ∼2 keV to 30per cent at 8 keV.