THERMAL PROPERTIES OF THE MIDDLE-AGED PULSAR J1741-2054

We present results of the spectral analysis of the X-ray emission from the middle-aged Fermi pulsar J1741-2054 using all Chandra archival data collected in 2010 and 2013. We confirm early findings by Romani et al. in 2010 that the pulsar spectrum contains a thermal emission component. The component is best described by the blackbody model with temperature approximate to 60 eV and emitting area radius approximate to 17 D-kpc km. The thermal emission likely originates from the entire surface of the cooling neutron star if the distance to the pulsar is approximate to 0.8 kpc. The latter is supported by a large absorbing column density inferred from the X-ray fit and empirical optical extinction-distance relations along the pulsar line of sight. The neutron star surface temperature and characteristic age make it similar to the well studied middle-aged pulsar B1055-52. Like this pulsar, PSR J1741-2054 is hotter than predicted by the standard cooling scenario.