PSR J1410-6132: a young, energetic pulsar associated with the EGRET source 3EG J1410-6147

We present the discovery of PSR J1410-6132, a 50-ms pulsar found during a high-frequency survey of the Galactic plane, using a seven-beam 6.3-GHz receiver on the 64-m Parkes radio telescope. The pulsar lies within the error box of the unidentified Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) source 3EG J1410-6147, has a characteristic age of 26 kyr and a spin-down energy of 1037 erg s-1. It has a very high dispersion measure of 960 ± 10 cm-3 pc and the largest rotation measure of any pulsar, RM =+2400 ± 30 rad m-2. The pulsar is very scatter-broadened at frequencies of 1.4 GHz and below, making pulsed emission almost impossible to detect. Assuming a distance of 15 kpc, the pulsar's spin-down energy and a γ-ray efficiency factor of ∼10 per cent is sufficient to power the γ-ray source. We therefore believe that we have identified the nature of 3EG J1410-6147. This new discovery suggests that deep targeted high-frequency surveys of inner-galaxy EGRET sources could uncover further young, energetic pulsars.