X-ray emission from radio pulsar winds

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (20) References (24) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS X-ray emission from radio pulsar winds. Cheng, A. F. Abstract Synchrotron radiation from a pulsar wind is considered as a possible basis for unpulsed X-ray emission from radio pulsars. In a simple spherical model for a hot, relativistic plasma wind from a pulsar, the magnetic field is essentially toroidal and the flow mostly radial, and it is assumed that the wind model applies beyond a radius that is several times the light cylinder radius. If the pulsar wind is unconfined, most of the X-ray synchrotron radiation would be emitted from the vicinity of the radius, and the angular diameter of such a source would be too small to be resolvable. If the pulsar wind is confined, then unpulsed, spatially extended X-ray emission may be detectable in addition to the point source emission from near the radius. A ram pressure-confined pulsar wind would be observable as a spatially extended emission region located in front of the pulsar. These models are applied to Einstein observatory observations. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: December 1983 DOI: 10.1086/161574 Bibcode: 1983ApJ...275..790C Keywords: Pulsars; Stellar Models; Stellar Spectrophotometry; Stellar Winds; Synchrotron Radiation; X Ray Sources; Magnetic Field Configurations; Point Sources; Radiant Flux Density; Radiation Distribution; Relativistic Particles; Astrophysics full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (2)