A search for pulsars in supernova remnants

We have carried out a sensitive search for young pulsars associated with supernova remnants using the 76-m Lovell radio telescope at Jodrell Bank. The observations were made at 606 MHz using a system with a bandwidth of 8 MHz and a set noise temperature on cold sky of about 50 K. The survey targeted 33 remnants in the northern hemisphere and achieved a nominal sensitivity of ~1 mJy in most cases. Two pulsars were discovered in the course of this survey and the known pulsar PSR B1952+29 was detected. The new pulsars, J0215+6218 and J1957+2831, were found during searches of the supernova remnants G132.7+1.3 and G65.1+0.6 respectively. Based on a statistical analysis of the present sample of proposed pulsar-supernova remnant pairs, we conclude that at most 17 associations are likely to be real. We find no strong evidence for a genuine association between either of the two newly discovered pulsars and their target supernova remnants.