Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Mar 1983
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1983aipc..101...45h&link_type=abstract
In its NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Contrib. to the Workshop on Positron-Electron Pairs in Astrophys. p 45-49 (SEE N83-2792
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Electron-Positron Pairs, Gamma Rays, Pair Production, Pulsars, Stellar Magnetic Fields, Astrophysics, Electron Photon Cascades, Landau Factor, Photons, Stellar Models, Synchrotron Radiation
Scientific paper
In pulsar polar cap models, curvature radiation gamma rays produce e(+)e(-) pairs in the strong magnetic fields near the surface of the neutron star. While these gamma rays have energies Egamma mc(2), they also propagate at very small angles to the fields, such that the threshold condition, E gamma 2mc(2)/sin theta is just barely satisfied when they pair produce. Threshold effects on the pair production attenuation coefficient, which are due to the discreteness of the e(+)e(-) Landau states, must therefore be considered when computing the mean free paths of curvature radiation photons in pulsar magnetic fields. These effects, which are not incorporated in the asymptotic expression for the attenuation coefficient, have some interesting consequences for pulsar models. Since pair production is suppressed near threshold, the photon mean free paths are longer than previously thought. In magnetic fields approximately 6x10 approximately G, the pairs tend to be produced in the ground state Landau level and will not synchrotron radiate. Since synchrotron radiation is an essential ingredient in the electromagnetic cascades which produce low energy pairs above the acceleration region, pulsars with very high magnetic fields may not produce many pairs.
Daugherty Joseph K.
Harding Alice K.
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