Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2001-01-28
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
17 pages, 12 figures, submitted to ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1086/322468
We investigate a stationary pair production cascade in the outer magnetosphere of a spinning neutron star. The charge depletion due to global flows of charged particles, causes a large electric field along the magnetic field lines. Migratory electrons and/or positrons are accelerated by this field to radiate curvature gamma-rays, some of which collide with the X-rays to materialize as pairs in the gap. The replenished charges partially screen the electric field, which is self-consistently solved together with the distribution functions of particles and gamma-rays. If no current is injected at neither of the boundaries of the accelerator, the gap is located around the conventional null surface, where the local Goldreich-Julian charge density vanishes. However, we first find that the gap position shifts outwards (or inwards) when particles are injected at the inner (or outer) boundary. Applying the theory to the Crab pulsar, we demonstrate that the pulsed TeV flux does not exceed the observational upper limit for moderate infrared photon density and that the gap should be located near to or outside of the conventional null surface so that the observed spectrum of pulsed GeV fluxes may be emitted via a curvature process. Some implications of the existence of a solution for a super Goldreich-Julian current are discussed.
Hirotani Kouichi
Shibata Shinpei
No associations
LandOfFree
Electrodynamic Structure of an Outer Gap Accelerator: Location of the Gap and the Gamma-ray Emission from the Crab Pulsar does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Electrodynamic Structure of an Outer Gap Accelerator: Location of the Gap and the Gamma-ray Emission from the Crab Pulsar, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electrodynamic Structure of an Outer Gap Accelerator: Location of the Gap and the Gamma-ray Emission from the Crab Pulsar will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-309491