29,012 research outputs found
High Magnetic Field Rotation-powered Pulsars
Anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma repeaters have recently emerged as a
unified class of neutron stars, identified by dramatic X-ray and gamma-ray
outbursts and via luminous X-ray pulsations, both thought to be powered by the
decay of an enormous internal magnetic field. This "magnetar" hypothesis has
raised the question of these objects' physical relationship with conventional
rotation-powered pulsars (RPPs). The highest magnetic-field RPPs might
therefore be expected to be transition objects between the two populations. The
recently reported magnetar-like outburst of PSR J1846-0258, previously thought
to be purely rotation-powered, clearly supports this suggestion. Here we review
the observational properties of the highest magnetic-field RPPs known, and show
some common characteristics that are notable among RPPs, which are plausibly
related to their high fields. Using these objects, we consider the evidence for
proposed "magneto-thermal evolution" in neutron stars, and argue that while
some exists, it is not yet conclusive.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Conference proceeding of "ASTROphysics of Neutron
Stars 2010 -- a conference in honor of M. Ali Alpar", 2-6 August 2010, Cesme,
Izmir, Turke
Fitting Pulsar Wind Tori. II. Error Analysis and Applications
We have applied the torus fitting procedure described in Ng & Romani (2004)
to PWNe observations in the Chandra data archive. This study provides
quantitative measurement of the PWN geometry and we characterize the
uncertainties in the fits, with statistical errors coming from the fit
uncertainties and systematic errors estimated by varying the assumed fitting
model. The symmetry axis of the PWN are generally well determined, and
highly model-independent. We often derive a robust value for the spin
inclination . We briefly discuss the utility of these results in
comparison with new radio and high energy pulse measurementsComment: 15 pages, 3 figures, ApJ in pres
Improved Limits on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter using Full-Sky Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor Data
A sterile neutrino of ~keV mass is a well motivated dark matter candidate.
Its decay generates an X-ray line that offers a unique target for X-ray
telescopes. For the first time, we use the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM)
onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope to search for sterile neutrino
decay lines; our analysis covers the energy range 10-25 keV (sterile neutrino
mass 20-50 keV), which is inaccessible to X-ray and gamma-ray satellites such
as Chandra, Suzaku, XMM-Newton, and INTEGRAL. The extremely wide field of view
of the GBM enables a large fraction of the Milky Way dark matter halo to be
probed. After implementing careful data cuts, we obtain ~53 days of full sky
observational data. We observe an excess of photons towards the Galactic
Center, as expected from astrophysical emission. We search for sterile neutrino
decay lines in the energy spectrum, and find no significant signal. From this,
we obtain upper limits on the sterile neutrino mixing angle as a function of
mass. In the sterile neutrino mass range 25-40 keV, we improve upon previous
upper limits by approximately an order of magnitude. Better understanding of
detector and astrophysical backgrounds, as well as detector response, will
further improve the sensitivity of a search with the GBM.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, references added, discussion expanded, some
typos fixed, matches the published versio
Radio Polarization Observations of the Snail: A Crushed Pulsar Wind Nebula in G327.1-1.1 with a Highly Ordered Magnetic Field
Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are suggested to be acceleration sites of cosmic
rays in the Galaxy. While the magnetic field plays an important role in the
acceleration process, previous observations of magnetic field configurations of
PWNe are rare, particularly for evolved systems. We present a radio
polarization study of the "Snail" PWN inside the supernova remnant G327.1-1.1
using the Australia Telescope Compact Array. This PWN is believed to have been
recently crushed by the supernova (SN) reverse shock. The radio morphology is
composed of a main circular body with a finger-like protrusion. We detected a
strong linear polarization signal from the emission, which reflects a highly
ordered magnetic field in the PWN and is in contrast to the turbulent
environment with a tangled magnetic field generally expected from
hydrodynamical simulations. This could suggest that the characteristic
turbulence scale is larger than the radio beam size. We built a toy model to
explore this possibility, and found that a simulated PWN with a turbulence
scale of about one-eighth to one-sixth of the nebula radius and a pulsar wind
filling factor of 50--75% provides the best match to observations. This implies
substantial mixing between the SN ejecta and pulsar wind material in this
system.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
Information and Particle Physics
Information measures for relativistic quantum spinors are constructed to
satisfy various postulated properties such as normalisation invariance and
positivity. Those measures are then used to motivate generalised Lagrangians
meant to probe shorter distance physics within the maximum uncertainty
framework. The modified evolution equations that follow are necessarily
nonlinear and simultaneously violate Lorentz invariance, supporting previous
heuristic arguments linking quantum nonlinearity with Lorentz violation. The
nonlinear equations also break discrete symmetries. We discuss the implications
of our results for physics in the neutrino sector and cosmology
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