Phase Evolution of the Crab Pulsar between Radio and X-Ray

Journal Article · Sun Aug 20 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/AA7FF6· OSTI ID:22663181

Yan, L. L.; Ge, M. Y.; Zheng, S. J.; Lu, F. J.; Tuo, Y. L.; Zhang, S. N.; Lu, Y. ^[1]; Yuan, J. P.; Tong, H. ^[2]; Han, J. L. ^[3]

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1. Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China)
2. Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830011 (China)
3. National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jia 20 Datun Road, Beijing 100012 (China)

We study the X-ray phases of the Crab pulsar utilizing the 11-year observations from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer , 6-year radio observations from Nanshan Telescope, and the ephemeris from Jodrell Bank Observatory. It is found that the X-ray phases in different energy bands and the radio phases from the Nanshan Telescope show similar behaviors, including long-time evolution and short-time variations. Such strong correlations between the X-ray and radio phases imply that the radio and X-ray timing noises are both generated from the pulsar spin that cannot be well described by the the monthly ephemeris from the Jodrell Bank observatory. When using the Nanshan phases as references to study the X-ray timing noise, it has a significantly smaller variation amplitude and shows no long-time evolution, with a change rate of (−1.1 ± 1.1) × 10{sup −7} periods per day. These results show that the distance of the X-ray and radio emission regions on the Crab pulsar has no detectable secular change, and it is unlikely that the timing noises resulted from any unique physical processes in the radio or X-ray emitting regions. The similar behaviors of the X-ray and radio timing noises also imply that the variation of the interstellar medium is not the origin of the Crab pulsar’s timing noises, which is consistent with the results obtained from the multi-frequency radio observations of PSR B1540−06.

• OSTI ID: 22663181
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 845; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
CORRELATIONS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
EMISSION
NEUTRONS
NOISE
PULSARS
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
TELESCOPES
X RADIATION