ASCA Observations of PSR 1929+10 and PSR 0950+08

Details ASCA Observations of PSR 1929+10 and PSR 0950+08 ASCA Observations of PSR 1929+10 and PSR 0950+08

Jun 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997apj...482l.159w&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal Letters v.482, p.L159

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

30

Stars: Pulsars: Individual Alphanumeric: Psr 0950+08, Stars: Pulsars: Individual Alphanumeric: Psr 1929+10, Stars: Neutron, X-Rays: Stars

Scientific paper

The ASCA X-ray spectra of the old pulsars PSR 1929+10 and PSR 0950+08 are adequately fitted by simple blackbodies. Between 0.5 and 5.0 keV, PSR 1929+10 is best fitted with T = (5.14 +/- 0.53) x 106 K and L = 1.54 x 1030 ergs s-1; PSR 0950+09 has T = (5.70 +/- 0.63) x 106 K and L = 4.67 x 1029 ergs s-1. The inferred areas are 2 orders of magnitude smaller than canonical polar cap sizes. There is some evidence for a dearth of photons above 5 keV, which would disfavor alternative power-law models for the spectra. Pulsed emission is detected from PSR 1929+10 with 99.8% significance and pulsed fraction 0.35 +/- 0.15. Marginal evidence of pulsed X-ray emission from PSR 0950+08 is present with 99.0% significance and pulsed fraction 0.34 +/- 0.18. Relativistic ray tracing shows that if the geometry deduced from the polarization of the radio pulse is adopted for the surface thermal emission, a centered dipole cannot reproduce the large pulse modulations observed unless the radius of the neutron star is as large as 18 km. A mechanism of polar cap heating by the impact of relativistic particles is suggested that can produce small areas with T ~ 5 x 106 K on old, spun-down pulsars with weak magnetic fields (B ~ 3 x 1011 G).

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