One-dimensional electric field structure of an outer gap accelerator - I. gamma-ray production resulting from curvature radiation

Details One-dimensional electric field structure of an outer gap accelerator - I. gamma-ray production resulting from curvature radiation One-dimensional electric field structure of an outer gap accelerator - I. gamma-ray production resulting from curvature radiation

Sep 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999mnras.308...54h&link_type=abstract

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 308, Issue 1, pp. 54-66.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

49

Scientific paper

We study the structure of a stationary and axisymmetric charge-deficient region (or potential gap) in the outer magnetosphere of a spinning neutron star. Assuming the existence of global current flow patterns in the magnetosphere, the charge depletion causes a large electric field along the magnetic field lines. This longitudinal electric field accelerates migratory electrons and/or positrons to ultrarelativistic energies. These relativistic electrons/positrons radiate gamma-ray photons by curvature radiation. These gamma-rays, in turn, produce yet more radiating particles by colliding with ambient X-ray photons, leading to a pair production cascade in the gap. The replenished charges partially screen the longitudinal electric field, which is self-consistently solved together with the distribution of e^+/- and gamma-ray photons. We find the voltage drop in the gap as a function of the soft photon luminosity. It is demonstrated that the voltage drop is less than 3x10^13V when the background X-ray radiation is as luminous as Vela. However, this value increases with decreasing X-ray luminosity and attains 3x10^15V when the X-ray luminosity is as low as L_X=10^31ergs^-1.

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