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Issue A&A
Volume 388, Number 2, June III 2002
Page(s) L29 - L32
Section Letters
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20020599



A&A 388, L29-L32 (2002)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20020599

Letter

Pulsed radiation from neutron star winds

J. G. Kirk1, O. Skjæraasen1 and Y. A. Gallant2

1  Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 10 39 80, 69029 Heidelberg, Germany
2  Service d'Astrophysique, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

(Received 22 February 2002 / Accepted 17 April 2002 )

Abstract
The radiation of a pulsar wind is computed assuming that at roughly 10 to 100 light cylinder radii from the star, magnetic energy is dissipated into particle energy. The synchrotron emission of heated particles appears periodic, with, in general, both a pulse and an interpulse. The predicted spacing agrees well with the Crab and Vela pulse profiles. Using parameters appropriate for the Crab pulsar (magnetisation parameter at the light cylinder $\sigma_{\rm L}=6\times10^4$, Lorentz factor $\Gamma=250$) agreement is found with the observed total pulsed luminosity. This suggests that the high-energy pulses from young pulsars originate not in the corotating magnetosphere within the light cylinder (as in all other models) but from the radially directed wind well outside it.


Key words: pulsars: general -- pulsars: Crab -- MHD -- radiation mechanisms: non-thermal

Offprint request: J. G. Kirk, john.kirk@mpi-hd.mpg.de

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