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 $\Psi$ of the PWN are generally well determined, and highly model-independent. We often derive a robust value for the spin inclination $\zeta$. 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