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arXiv · 1211.3726

Pulsars in Gamma Rays: What Fermi Is Teaching Us

Matthew Kerr·the Fermi-LAT Collaboration
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Abstract

The 2nd Fermi-LAT pulsar catalog includes 117 gamma-ray pulsars, of which roughly one third are millisecond pulsars (MSPs) while the remaining two thirds split evenly into young radio-loud and radio-quiet pulsars. Although this large population will enable future, detailed studies of emission mechanisms and the evolution of the underlying neutron star population, some nearly-universal properties are already clear and unequivocal. We discuss some of these aspects below, including the altitude of the gamma-ray emission site and the shape of the gamma-ray spectrum and its implications for the radiation mechanism.

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Matthew Kerr, the Fermi-LAT Collaboration. 2012-11-15. Pulsars in Gamma Rays: What Fermi Is Teaching Us. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1743921312023940

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