arXiv · astro-ph/0208579
Why study pulsars optically?
Abstract
Observations of the five confirmed optical pulsars indicate that the peak emission scales according to the magnetic field strength at the light cylinder. To the accuracy that such low number allows we show that this gives further confirmation that a straightforward synchrotron model such as Pacini & Salvati (1987) still has validity. The derived relationships indicates that the emission mechanism is common across all of the pulsars and towards the edge of the light cylinder. In the future observations should include near and far infra red work to determine the long wave self absorption cut-off and polarization observations of all pulsars to restrict (to first order) emission zone geometry.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
A. Shearer, A. Golden. 2002-08-30. Why study pulsars optically?. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0208579
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.