Open AccessCorrelation between X‐Ray Light‐Curve Shape and Radio Arrival Time in the Vela Pulsar
Author(s) -
A. N. Lommen,
Jennifer L. Donovan,
C. R. Gwinn,
Zaven Arzoumanian,
A. K. Harding,
M. S. Strickman,
Richard Dodson,
P. M. McCulloch,
D. A. Moffett
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/510797
Subject(s) - vela , physics , pulsar , astrophysics , magnetosphere , observatory , astronomy , x ray , flux (metallurgy) , light curve , pulse (music) , optics , plasma , detector , materials science , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
We report the results of simultaneous observations of the Vela pulsar inX-rays and radio from the RXTE satellite and the Mount Pleasant RadioObservatory in Tasmania. We sought correlations between the Vela's X-rayemission and radio arrival times on a pulse by pulse basis. At a confidencelevel of 99.8% we have found significantly higher flux density in Vela's mainX-ray peak during radio pulses that arrived early. This excess flux shifts tothe 'trough' following the 2nd X-ray peak during radio pulses that arrivelater. Our results suggest that the mechanism producing the radio pulses isintimately connected to the mechanism producing X-rays. Current models usingresonant absorption of radio emission in the outer magnetosphere as a cause ofthe X-ray emission are explored as a possible explanation for the correlation.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Ap
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