Abstract
The physical conditions near pulsar surface that might give rise to gamma ray emission from Crab and Vela pulsars are not yet well understood. Here I suggest that, in the context of the vacuum discharge mechanism proposed by Ruderman and Sutherland (1975), gamma rays are produced by inverse Compton scattering of secondary electrons with the thermal radiation of the star surface as well as for curvature and synchrotron radiation. It is found that inverse Compton scattering is relevant if the neutron star surface temperature is greater than 106K or if the polar cap temperature is of the order of 5×106K. Inverse Compton scattering in anisotropic photon fields and Klein-Nishina regime is here carefully considered.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arons, J. and Scharlemann, E. T.: 1979,Astrophys. J. 231, 854.
Bahcall, J. N. and Milgrom, M.: 1980,Astrophys. J. 236, 24.
Bennett, K., Bignami, G. F., Boella, G., Buccheri, R., Hermsen, W., Kanbach, G., Lichti, G. G., Masnou, J. L., Mayer-Hasselwander, H. A., Paul, J. A., Scarsi, L., Swanenburg, B. N., Taylor, B. G., and Wills, R. D.: 1977,Astron. Astrophys. 61, 279.
Brinkmann, W.: 1980,Astron. Astrophys. 82, 352.
Cheng, A. F. and Ruderman, M. A.: 1977,Astrophys. J. 216, 865.
Greenstein, G. S.: 1975,Astrophys. J. 200, 281.
Heitler, W.: 1960,The Quantum Theory of Radiation, Oxford Press, London
Helfand, D. J., Chanan, G. A., and Novick, R.: 1980,Nature 283, 337.
Jones, P. D.: 1980,Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc. 192, 847.
Lichti, G. G., Buccheri, R., Caraveo, P., Gerardi, G., Hermsen, W., Kanbach, G., Masnou, J. L., Mayer-Hasselwander, H. A., Paul, J. A., Swanenburg, B. N., and Wills, R. D.: 1980, inNon-Solar Gamma Rays (COSPAR). Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York.
Massaro, E. and Salvati, M.: 1979,Astron. Astrophys. 71, 51.
Ruderman, M. A. and Sutherland, P. G.: 1975,Astrophys. J. 196, 51.
Schlickeiser, R.: 1980,Astrophys. J. 236, 945.
Stecker, F. W.: 1971,Cosmic Gamma Rays, Mono Book Corp, Baltimore.
Sturrock, P. A.: 1971,Astrophys. J. 164, 529.
Treves, A.: 1971,Nuovo Cimento 4B, 88.
Tsuruta, S.: 1979,Phys. Rep. 56, 237.
Zimmermann, H. U.: 1980,Astron. Astrophys. 88, 309.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morini, M. Inverse compton emission of gamma rays near the pulsar surface. Astrophys Space Sci 79, 203–211 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00655917
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00655917