Related papers: The Vela Pulsar With an Active Fallback Disk
In the relativistic plasma surrounding a pulsar, a subluminal ordinary-mode electromagnetic wave will propagate along a magnetic field line. After some distance, it can break free of the field line and escape the magnetosphere to reach an…
Neutron stars may be surrounded by fall-back disks formed from supernova core-collapse. If the disk circumscribes the light-cylinder, the neutron star will be an active radio pulsar spinning down under the propeller spin-down torque applied…
We examined the fall-back disk models, and in general accretion, proposed to explain the properties of anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs), soft gamma repeaters (SGRs), and radio pulsars (PSRs). We checked the possibility of some gas remaining…
We have studied the fascinating dynamics of the nearby Vela pulsar's nebula in a campaign comprising eleven 40ks observations with Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO). The deepest yet images revealed the shape, structure, and motion of the…
Calculations have been made of fall-back disk heating by the pulsar wind as distinct from the soft X-rays emitted by the neutron-star surface. The relation between these heating rates and measured near-infrared fluxes in the K and Ks bands…
We present the UV spectroscopy and timing of three nearby pulsars (Vela, B0656+14 and Geminga) recently observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. We also review the optical and X-ray properties of these pulsars and establish…
We present a spatially resolved spectroscopic analysis of the young Galactic supernova remnant Kes 75 (SNR G29.7-0.3) using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Kes 75 is one of an increasing number of examples of a shell-type remnant with a…
Most low-mass stars form in stellar clusters that also contain massive stars, which are sources of far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation. Theoretical models predict that this FUV radiation produces photo-dissociation regions (PDRs) on the…
Since the day of its explosion, supernova (SN) 1987A has been closely monitored to study its evolution and to detect its central compact relic. In fact, the formation of a neutron star is strongly supported by the detection of neutrinos…
The TW Hya system is perhaps the closest analog to the early solar nebula. We have used the Very Large Array to image TW Hya at wavelengths of 7mm and 3.6 cm with resolutions 0.1 arcseconds (about 5 AU) and 1.0 arcseconds (about 50 AU),…
Using a novel technique, we achieve ~100 picoarcsecond resolution and set an upper bound of less than 4 km for the characteristic size of the Vela pulsar's emission region. Specifically, we analyze flux-density statistics of the Vela pulsar…
The evolution of pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) influences how high energy particles in the vicinity are generated and transport. The Vela PWN (only $\sim300$\,pc away), provides a rather rare case between young and well-evolved systems. We…
The Vela supernova remnant (SNR) shows several ejecta fragments protruding beyond the forward shock (shrapnel). Recent studies have revealed high Si abundance in two shrapnel (A and G), located in opposite directions with respect to the SNR…
We report on the 20 ksec observation of Vela X-1 performed by BeppoSAX on 1996 July 14 during its Science Verification Phase. We observed the source in two intensity states, characterized by a change in luminosity of a factor ~ 2, and a…
We present the results of a broad band (3-200 keV) spectral analysis of BeppoSAX and XMM-Newton observations of the Vela plerion. The hard X-ray (> 15 keV) emission is found to be extended over a region of 12'-15' radius, corresponding to a…
Observations of the Vela pulsar region with the Chandra X-ray observatory have revealed the fine structure of its synchrotron pulsar-wind nebula (PWN), which showed an overall similarity with the Crab PWN. However, contrary to the Crab, no…
A Chandra image of the central X-ray source RX J0007.0+7303 in the supernova remnant CTA 1 reveals a point source, a compact nebula, and a bent jet, all of which are characteristic of energetic, rotation-powered pulsars. Using the MDM 2.4m…
Vela X-1 is one of the most archetypal wind-fed X-ray pulsars (XRPs), and the emergence of its orthogonal polarization states reveals distinctive polarimetric properties. Using data from Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)…
Pulse profiles probe the emission geometry of accreting X-ray pulsars, but their observed shapes may depend on instrumental response and observational setup. The pulsed fraction spectrum provides a compact spectro-timing observable that can…
In a Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN), the lifetime of inverse Compton emitting electrons exceeds the lifetime of its progenitor pulsar, but it exceeds also the age of the electrons that emit via synchrotron radiation; i.e. while the PWN grows…