No Arabic abstract
The analysis of distributions of some parameters of radio pulsars emitting X-ray radiation was carried out. The majority of such pulsars has short spin periods with the average value $< P >$ = 133 msec. The distribution of period derivatives reveals a bimodality, dividing millisecond ($< log dfrac{dP}{dt}>$ = -19.69) and normal ($< log dfrac{dP}{dt}> $ = -13.29) pulsars. Magnetic fields at the surface of the neutron star are characterized by the bimodal distribution as well. The mean values of $<log B_s>$ are $8.48$ and $12.41$ for millisecond pulsars and normal ones, respectively. The distribution of magnetic fields near the light cylinder, it does not show the noticeable bimodality. The median value of $log B_{lc}$ = 4.43 is almost three orders higher comparing with this quantity ($<log B_{lc}>$ = 1.75) for radio pulsars without registered X-ray emission. Losses of rotational energy ($<log dfrac{dE}{dt}>$ = 35.24) are also three orders higher than corresponding values for normal pulsars. There is the strong correlation between X-ray luminosities and losses of rotational energies. The dependence of the X-ray luminosity on the magnetic field at the light cylinder has been detected. It shows that the generation of the non-thermal X-ray emission takes place at the periphery of the magnetosphere and is caused by the synchrotron mechanism. We detected the positive correlations between luminosities in radio, X-ray and gamma -ray ranges. Such correlations give the possibility to carry out a purposeful search for pulsars in one of these ranges if they radiate in other one.
Electrons/positrons produced in a pulsar magnetosphere emit synchrotron radiation, which is widely believed as the origin of the non-thermal X-ray emission detected from pulsars. Particles are produced by curvature photons emitted from accelerated particles in the magnetosphere. These curvature photons are detected as pulsed $gamma$-ray emissions from pulsars with age $lesssim10^6$ yr. Using $gamma$-ray observations and analytical model, we impose severe constraints on the synchrotron radiation as a mechanism of the non-thermal X-ray emission. In most middle-aged pulsars ($sim10^5-10^6$ yr) which photon-photon pair production is less efficient in their magnetosphere, we find that the synchrotron radiation model is difficult to explain the observed non-thermal X-ray emission.
We report on a detailed spectral characterization of the non-thermal X-ray emission for a large sample of gamma-ray pulsars in the second Fermi-LAT catalogue. We outline the criteria adopted for the selection of our sample, its completeness, and critically describe different approaches to estimate the spectral shape and flux of pulsars. We perform a systematic modelling of the pulsars X-ray spectra using archival observations with XMM-Newton, Chandra, and NuSTAR and extract the corresponding non-thermal X-ray spectral distributions. This set of data is made available online and is useful to confront with predictions of theoretical models.
In the canonical picture of pulsars, radio emission arises from a narrow cone centered on the stars magnetic axis but many basic details remain unclear. We use high-quality polarization data taken with the Parkes radio telescope to constrain the geometry and emission heights of pulsars showing interpulse emission, and include the possibility that emission heights in the main and interpulse may be different. We show that emission heights are low in the centre of the beam, typically less than 3% of the light cylinder radius. The emission beams are under-filled in longitude, with an average profile width only 60% of the maximal beam width and there is a strong preference for the visible emission to be located on the trailing part of the beam. We show substantial evidence that the emission heights are larger at the beam edges than in the beam centre. There is some indication that a fan-like emission beam explains the data better than conal structures. Finally, there is a strong correlation between handedness of circular polarization in the main and interpulse profiles which implies that the hand of circular polarization is determined by the hemisphere of the visible emission.
Observations of pulsars with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi satellite have revolutionized our view of the gamma-ray pulsar population. For the first time, a large number of young gamma-ray pulsars have been discovered in blind searches of the LAT data. More generally, the LAT has discovered many new gamma-ray sources whose properties suggest that they are powered by unknown pulsars. Radio observations of gamma-ray sources have been key to the success of pulsar studies with the LAT. For example, radio observations of LAT-discovered pulsars provide constraints on the relative beaming fractions, which are crucial for pulsar population studies. Also, radio searches of LAT sources with no known counterparts have been very efficient, with the discovery of over forty millisecond pulsars. I review radio follow-up studies of LAT-discovered pulsars and unidentified sources, and discuss some of the implications of the results.
Low energy X-ray emission (0.1-10 keV) from all six millisecond radio pulsars (MSPs) for which such emission has been reported support a proposed pulsar magnetic field evolution previously compared only to radiopulse data: old, very strongly spun-up neutron stars become mainly orthogonal rotators (magnetic dipole moment perpendicular to stellar spin) or aligned rotators. The neutron star properties which lead to such evolution are reviewed. Special consideration is given to agreement between predictions and observed X-ray emission for the aligned MSP candidate PSR J0437-4715.