Abstract
“With all reserve, we advance the view that a supernova represents the transition of an ordinary star into a neutron star.” This conclusion, reached just 50 years ago in a classic paper by Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky (1934), was published three decades before the first direct observational evidence for the existence of neutron stars was uncovered. It still informs the standard picture of neutron star production in the Galaxy. We examine herein some recent evidence bearing on this question which has been derived from Einstein Observatory X-ray observations of supernova remnants and radio pulsars. In particular, the discovery that X-ray synchrotron nebulae are found surrounding most young (≳ 10 6 yr) pulsars observed to date is discussed. We explore the implications of the lack of such nebulae in the majority of supernova remnants (SNR) for the properties and frequency of neutron star formation in supernova events.
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