ASSOCIATING YOUNG PULSARS AND SUPERNOVA-REMNANTS - PSR-1610-50 AND THE CASE FOR HIGH-VELOCITY PULSARS

The number of associations between pulsars and SNRs has grown dramatically in the 1990s, going from a total of five in 1988 to 11 at the beginning of 1993. This,is due in part to new pulsar surveys, in part to ad hoc searches and in part to a posteriori cross-correlations between pulsar and SNR catalogs. Taking at face value all the proposed identifications, one finds that nine of the 10 youngest pulsars, listed in the most recent catalog (Taylor, Manchester, & Lyne 1993), are associated with a SNR. The exception is PSR 1610-50, the fourth youngest pulsar, recently discovered during a pulsar survey (Johnston et al. 1992). Here we propose the association of this 7500 yr old pulsar with Kes 32, a well-known SNR of comparable age and distance. PSR 1610-50 lies in the outskirts of Kes 32 and appears to be one more example of a pulsar born with such a high velocity that it has overtaken the supernova remnant shell. All the pulsars younger than 20,000 yr are thus systematically associated with a SNR. Consequences of this result are explored, for example on the high velocities required for several pulsars.