Discovery of the infrared counterpart of CXOUJ174437.3-323222 in the field of IGRJ17448-3232: A blazar candidate viewed through the Galactic Centre?

Abstract

We present our near-infrared ESO-NTT KS band observations of the field of IGRJ17448-3232 which show no extended emission consistent with the supernova remnant (SNR), but in which we identify a new counterpart, also visible in Spitzer images up to 24μm, at the position of the X-ray point source, CXOUJ174437.3-323222. Multiwavelength spectral modelling shows that the data are consistent with a reddened and absorbed single power law over 5 orders of magnitude in frequency. This implies non-thermal, possibly synchrotron emission that renders the previous identification of this source as a possible pulsar, and its association to the SNR, unlikely; we instead propose that the emission may be due to a blazar viewed through the plane of the Galaxy. © 2011 The Authors. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2011 RAS.