SUB-LUMINOUS {gamma}-RAY PULSARS

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/738/1/114· OSTI ID:21582868

Romani, R W; Kerr, M; Craig, H A ^[1]; Johnston, S ^[2]; Cognard, I ^[3]

---

1. Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
2. Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia)
3. Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement, LPCE UMR 6115 CNRS, 45071 Orleans Cedex 02 (France)

Most pulsars observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope have {gamma}-ray luminosities scaling with spin-down power E-dot as L{sub {gamma}}{approx}(E-dot x 10{sup 33} erg s{sup -1}){sup 1/2}. However, there exist one detection and several upper limits an order of magnitude or more fainter than this trend. We describe these 'sub-luminous' {gamma}-ray pulsars and discuss the case for this being an orientation effect. Of the 12 known young radio pulsars with E-dot >10{sup 34} erg s{sup -1} and d {<=} 2 kpc several are substantially sub-luminous. The limited available geometrical constraints favor aligned geometries for these pulsars, although no one case for alignment is compelling. In this scenario GeV emission detected from such sub-luminous pulsars can be due to a lower altitude, lower-power accelerator gap.

• OSTI ID: 21582868
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 738, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/738/1/114; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
GAMMA RADIATION
LUMINOSITY
PULSARS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS