GAMMA-RAY LIGHT CURVES FROM PULSAR MAGNETOSPHERES WITH FINITE CONDUCTIVITY

Journal Article · Fri Jul 20 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/754/1/L1· OSTI ID:22047672

Kalapotharakos, Constantinos ^[1]; Harding, Alice K; Kazanas, Demosthenes ^[2]; Contopoulos, Ioannis ^[3]

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1. University of Maryland, College Park (UMDCP/CRESST), College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
2. Astrophysics Science Division, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
3. Research Center for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics, Academy of Athens, Athens 11527 (Greece)

We investigate the shapes of {gamma}-ray pulsar light curves using three-dimensional pulsar magnetosphere models of finite conductivity. These models, covering the entire spectrum of solutions between vacuum and force-free magnetospheres, for the first time afford mapping the GeV emission of more realistic, dissipative pulsar magnetospheres. To this end we generate model light curves following two different approaches: (1) We employ the emission patterns of the slot and outer gap models in the field geometries of magnetospheres with different conductivity {sigma}. (2) We define realistic trajectories of radiating particles in magnetospheres of different {sigma} and compute their Lorentz factor under the influence of magnetospheric electric fields and curvature radiation-reaction; with these at hand we then calculate the emitted radiation intensity. The light curves resulting from these prescriptions are quite sensitive to the value of {sigma}, especially in the second approach. While still not self-consistent, these results are a step forward in understanding the physics of pulsar {gamma}-radiation.

• OSTI ID: 22047672
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 754; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC GAMMA SOURCES
COSMIC PHOTONS
DIAGRAMS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
GAMMA RADIATION
GEV RANGE
MAPPING
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
PHOTON EMISSION
PULSARS
STARS
STELLAR MAGNETOSPHERES
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VISIBLE RADIATION