English

Fermi Gamma-Ray Pulsars: Understanding the High-Energy Emission from Dissipative Magnetospheres

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2017-06-28 v2

Abstract

Based on the Fermi observational data we reveal meaningful constraints for the dependence of the macroscopic conductivity (σ)(\sigma) of dissipative pulsar magnetosphere models on the corresponding spin-down rate, E˙\dot{\mathcal{E}}. Our models are refinements of the FIDO (Force-Free Inside, Dissipative Outside) models whose dissipative regions are restricted on the equatorial current-sheet outside the light-cylinder. Taking into account the observed cutoff-energies of all the Fermi-pulsars and assuming that a) the corresponding γ\gamma-ray pulsed emission is due to curvature radiation at the radiation-reaction-limit regime and b) this emission is produced at the equatorial current-sheet near the light-cylinder, we show that the \emph{Fermi}-data provide clear indications about the corresponding accelerating electric-field components. A direct comparison between the \emph{Fermi} cutoff-energies and the model ones reveals that σ\sigma increases with E˙\dot{\mathcal{E}} for high E˙\dot{\mathcal{E}}-values while it saturates for low ones. This comparison indicates also that the corresponding gap-width increases toward low E˙\dot{\mathcal{E}}-values. Assuming the Goldreich-Julian flux for the emitting particles we calculate the total γ\gamma-ray luminosity (Lγ)(L_{\gamma}). A comparison between the dependence of the Fermi LγL_{\gamma}-values and the model ones on E˙\dot{\mathcal{E}} indicates an increase of the emitting particle multiplicity with E˙\dot{\mathcal{E}}. Our modeling guided by the \emph{Fermi}-data alone, enhances our understanding of the physical mechanisms behind the high energy emission in pulsar magnetospheres.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1702.03069,
  title  = {Fermi Gamma-Ray Pulsars: Understanding the High-Energy Emission from Dissipative Magnetospheres},
  author = {Constantinos Kalapotharakos and Alice K. Harding and Demosthenes Kazanas and Gabriele Brambilla},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.03069},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

7 pages, 4 figures, accepted in ApJ