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Pulsar Emission: Where to Go

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Neutron Stars and Pulsars

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 357))

Pulsars are the quintessential dogs that don't bark in the night — their observed loss of rotational energy mostly disappears into the surrounding world while leaving few traces of that energy loss in observable photon emission. They are the prime example of compact objects which clearly lose their energy through a large scale Poynting flux.

In this chapter I survey recent successes in the application of relativistic MHD and force-free electrodynamics to the modeling of the pulsars rotational energy loss mechanism as well as to the structure and emission characteristics of Pulsar Wind Nebulae. I suggest that unsteady reconnection in the current sheet separating the closed from the open zones of the magnetosphere is responsible for the torque fluctuations observed in some pulsars, as well as for departures of the braking index from the canonical value of 3. I also discuss the theory of high energy pulsed emission from these neutron stars, emphasizing the significance of the boundary layer between the closed and open zones as the active site in the outer magnetosphere. I elaborate on the conflict between the models currently in use to interpret the gamma-ray and X-ray pulses from these systems with the electric current flows found in the spin down models. Because the polar cap “gap” is the essential component in the supply of plasma to pulsar magnetospheres and to pulsar wind nebulae, I emphasize the importance of high sensitivity gamma-ray observations of pulsars with core components of radio emission and high magnetospheric voltage, since observations of these stars will look directly into the polar plasma production region and will probe the basic plasma parameters of these systems. I also discuss the current state of understanding and problems in the shock conversion of flow energy into the spectra of the synchrotron emitting particles in the Nebulae, emphasizing the possible role of heavy ions in these processes. I comment on the prospects for future developments and improvements in all these areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Astronomy and of Physics, and Theoretical Astrophysics Center, University of California, Berkeley

    Jonathan Arons

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  1. MaxPlanckInstitut fur Extraterrestische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, Garching, 85741, Germany

    Werner Becker

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Arons, J. (2009). Pulsar Emission: Where to Go. In: Becker, W. (eds) Neutron Stars and Pulsars. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 357. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76965-1_15

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