CONSTRAINT ON THE PARAMETERS OF THE INVERSE COMPTON SCATTERING MODEL FOR RADIO PULSARS

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/741/1/2; COUNTRY OF INPUT: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)· OSTI ID:21587328

Lv, M; Wang, H G ^[1]; Lee, K J ^[2]; Qiao, G J

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1. Center for Astrophysics, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006 (China)
2. Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn 53121 (Germany)

The inverse Compton scattering (ICS) model can explain various pulse profile shapes and the diversity of the pulse profile evolution based on the mechanism where the radio emission is generated through ICS between secondary relativistic particles and radio waves from polar gap avalanches. In this paper, we study the parameter space of the ICS model for 15 pulsars that share the common pulse profile evolution phenomenon, where the pulse profiles are narrower at higher observing frequencies. Two key parameters, the initial Lorentz factor and the energy loss factor of secondary particles, are constrained using the least-squares fitting method, where we fit the theoretical curve of the 'beam-frequency mapping' of the ICS model to the observed pulse widths at multiple frequencies. The uncertainty of the inclination and viewing angles are taken into account in the fitting process. It is found that the initial Lorentz factor is larger than 4000, and the energy loss factor is between 20 and 560. The Lorentz factor is consistent with the prediction of the inner vacuum gap model. Such high-energy loss factors suggest significant energy loss for secondary particles at altitudes of a few tens to hundreds of kilometers.

• OSTI ID: 21587328
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 741, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/741/1/2; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMPTON EFFECT
ENERGY LOSSES
LEAST SQUARE FIT
PULSARS
BASIC INTERACTIONS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ELASTIC SCATTERING
ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
LOSSES
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD FIT
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
SCATTERING