1107.1392 (P. A. Curran et al.)

Discovery of the infrared counterpart of CXOU J174437.3-323222 in the field of IGR J17448-3232: a blazar candidate viewed through the Galactic centre?    [PDF]

P. A. Curran, S. Chaty, J. A. Zurita Heras, J. A. Tomsick, T. J. Maccarone

We present our near infrared ESO-NTT Ks band observations of the field of IGR J17448-3232 which show no extended emission consistent with the SNR but in which we identify a new counterpart, also visible in Spitzer images up to 24 {\mu}m, at the position of the X-ray point source, CXOUJ174437.3-323222. Multi-wavelength spectral modelling shows that the data are consistent with a reddened and absorbed single power law over five orders of magnitude in frequency. This implies non-thermal, possibly synchrotron emission that renders the previous identification of this source as a possible pulsar, and its association to the SNR, unlikely; we instead propose that the emission may be due to a blazar viewed through the plane of the Galaxy.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.1392