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XMM-Newton observations of the middle-aged radio-quiet $\gamma$-ray pulsar J0554+3107 allowed us, for the first time, firmly identify it in X-rays by detection of pulsations with the pulsar period. In the 0.2-2 keV band, the pulse profile shows two peaks separated by about a half of the rotation phase with the pulsed fraction of $25 \pm 6$ per cent. The profile and spectrum in this band can be mainly described by thermal emission from the neutron star with the hydrogen atmosphere, dipole magnetic field of $\sim 10^{13}$ G and non-uniform surface temperature. Non-thermal emission from the pulsar magnetosphere is marginally detected at higher photon energies. The spectral fit with the atmosphere+power law model implies that J0554+3107 is a rather heavy and cool neutron star with the mass of 1.6-2.1 $M_\odot$, the radius of $\approx 13$ km and the redshifted effective temperature of $\approx 50$ eV. The spectrum shows an absorption line of unknown nature at $\approx 350$ eV. Given the extinction-distance relation, the pulsar is located at $\approx 2$ kpc and has the redshifted bolometric thermal luminosity of $\approx 2 \times 10^{32}$ erg s$^{-1}$. We discuss cooling scenarios for J0554+3107 considering plausible equations of state of super-dense matter inside the star, different compositions of the heat-blanketing envelope and various ages., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We analyze new XMM-Newton and archival Chandra observations of the middle-aged $\gamma$-ray radio-quiet pulsar J1957+5033. We detect, for the first time, X-ray pulsations with the pulsar spin period of the point-like source coinciding by position with the pulsar. This confirms the pulsar nature of the source. In the 0.15--0.5 keV band, there is a single pulse per period and the pulsed fraction is $\approx18\pm6$ per cent. In this band, the pulsar spectrum is dominated by a thermal emission component that likely comes from the entire surface of the neutron star, while at higher energies ($\gtrsim0.7$ keV) it is described by a power law with the photon index $\Gamma \approx 1.6$. We construct new hydrogen atmosphere models for neutron stars with dipole magnetic fields and non-uniform surface temperature distributions with relatively low effective temperatures. We use them in the spectral analysis and derive the pulsar average effective temperature of $\approx(2-3)\times10^5$ K. This makes J1957+5033 the coldest among all known thermally emitting neutron stars with ages below 1 Myr. Using the interstellar extinction--distance relation, we constrain the distance to the pulsar in the range of 0.1--1 kpc. We compare the obtained X-ray thermal luminosity with those for other neutron stars and various neutron star cooling models and set some constraints on latter. We observe a faint trail-like feature, elongated $\sim 8$ arcmin from J1957+5033. Its spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index $\Gamma=1.9\pm0.5$ suggesting that it is likely a pulsar wind nebula powered by J1957+5033., Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, published in MNRAS

We report on the first detection of the Vela pulsar in the near-infrared with the VLT/ISAAC in the Js and H bands. The pulsar magnitudes are Js=22.71 +/- 0.10 and H=22.04 +/- 0.16. We compare our results with the available multiwavelength data and show that the dereddened phase-averaged optical spectrum of the pulsar can be fitted with a power law F_nu propto nu^(-alpha_nu) with alpha_nu = 0.12 +/- 0.05, assuming the color excess E(B-V)=0.055 +/-0.005 based on recent spectral fits of the emission of the Vela pulsar and its supernova remnant in X-rays. The negative slope of the pulsar spectrum is different from the positive slope observed over a wide optical range in the young Crab pulsar spectrum. The near-infrared part of the Vela spectrum appears to have the same slope as the phase-averaged spectrum in the high energy X-ray tail, obtained in the 2-10 keV range with the RXTE. Both of these spectra can be fitted with a single power law suggesting their common origin. Because the phase-averaged RXTE spectrum in this range is dominated by the second X-ray peak of the pulsar light curve, coinciding with the second main peak of its optical pulse profile, we suggest that this optical peak can be redder than the first one. We also detect two faint extended structures in the 1.5''-3.1'' vicinity of the pulsar, projected on and aligned with the south-east jet and the inner arc of the pulsar wind nebula, detected in X-rays with Chandra. We discuss their possible association with the nebula., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, the associated near-infrared images in the fits format are available at http://www.ioffe.ru/astro/NSG/obs/vela-ir/