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High-energy Emission from the Polar Cap and Slot Gap

  • Chapter
Neutron Stars and Pulsars

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 357))

Forty years after the discovery of rotation-powered pulsars, we still do not understand many aspects of their pulsed emission. In the last few years there have been some fundamental developments in acceleration and emission models. In this Chapter I will review both the basic physics of the models as well as the latest developments in understanding the high-energy emission of rotation-powered pulsars, with particular emphasis on the polar-cap and slot-gap models. Special and general relativistic effects play important roles in pulsar emission, from inertial frame-dragging near the stellar surface to aberration, time-of-flight and retardation of the magnetic field near the light cylinder. Understanding how these effects determine what we observe at different wavelengths is critical to unraveling the emission physics.

Rotation-powered pulsars are fascinating astrophysical sources and excellent laboratories for study of fundamental physics of strong gravity, strong magnetic fields, high densities and relativity. The major advantage we have in studying pulsars is that we know they are rotating neutron stars and that they derive their power from rotational energy loss. The challenge is then to understand how they convert this source of power into the visible radiation. It is generally agreed that this occurs through acceleration of charged particles to extremely relativistic energies, using the rotating magnetic field as a unipolar inductor to create very high electric potentials. Beyond this fundamental, there is a large divergence of thought on what comes next: whether the acceleration occurs in the strong field near the neutron star surface or in the outer magnetosphere near the speed of light cylinder, or even beyond the light cylinder in the wind zone. The particle acceleration may well be occurring in all of these regions, either in the same pulsar or in pulsars of different ages.

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Authors
  1. Alice K. Harding
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  1. MaxPlanckInstitut fur Extraterrestische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, Garching, 85741, Germany

    Werner Becker

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Harding, A.K. (2009). High-energy Emission from the Polar Cap and Slot Gap. In: Becker, W. (eds) Neutron Stars and Pulsars. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 357. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76965-1_19

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