Collimation of Highly Variable Magnetohydrodynamic Disturbances around a Rotating Black Hole

We have studied non-stationary and non-axisymmetric perturbations of a magnetohydrodynamic accretion onto a rotating (Kerr) black hole. Assuming that the magnetic field dominates the plasma accretion, we find that the accretion suffers a large radial acceleration resulting from the Lorentz force, and becomes highly variable compared with the electromagnetic field there. In fact, we further find an interesting perturbed structure of the plasma velocity with a large peak in some narrow region located slightly inside of the fast-magnetosonic surface. This is due to the concentrated propagation of the fluid disturbances in the form of fast-magnetosonic waves along the separatrix surface. If the fast-magnetosonic speed is smaller in the polar regions than in the equatorial regions, the critical surface has a prolate shape for radial poloidal field lines. In this case, only the waves that propagate towards the equator can escape from the super-fast-magnetosonic region and collimate polewards as they propagate outwards in the sub-fast-magnetosonic regions. We further discuss the capabilities of such collimated waves in accelerating particles due to cyclotron resonance in an electron-positron plasma.Comment: 15 pages, 6 postscript figures, LaTe

Outer gap accelerator closed by magnetic pair-creation process

We discuss outer gap closure mechanism in the trans-field direction with the magnetic pair-creation process near the stellar surface. The gap closure by the magnetic pair-creation is possible if some fraction of the pairs are produced with an outgoing momentum. By assuming that multiple magnetic field will affect the local field near the stellar surface, we show a specific magnetic field geometry near the stellar surface resulting in the outflow of the pairs. Together with the fact that the electric field is weak below null charge surface, the characteristic curvature photon energy emitted by incoming particles, which were accelerated in the outer gap, decreases drastically to $\sim 100$MeV near the stellar surface. We estimate the height measured from the last-open field line, above which 100MeV photons is converted into pairs by the magnetic pair-creation. We also show the resultant multiplicity due to the magnetic pair-creation process could acquire $M_{e^{\pm}}\sim 10^4-10^5$. In this model the fractional outer gap size is proportional to $P^{-1/2}$. The predicted gamma-ray luminosity ($L_{\gamma}$) and the characteristic curvature photon energy ($E_c$) emitted from the outer gap are proportional to $B^2P^{-5/2}$ and $B^{3/4}P^{-1}$ respectively. This model also predicts that $L_{\gamma}$ and $E_c$ are related to the spin down power ($L_{sd}$) or the spin down age of pulsars ($\tau$) as $L_{\gamma} \propto L_{sd}^{5/8}$ or $L_{\gamma} \propto \tau^{-5/4}$, and $E_c \propto L_{sd}^{1/4}$ or $E_c \propto \tau^{-1/2}$ respectively.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

Opacity in compact extragalactic radio sources and its effect on astrophysical and astrometric studies

The apparent position of the "core" in a parsec-scale radio jet (a compact, bright emitting region at the narrow end of the jet) depends on the observing frequency, owing to synchrotron self-absorption and external absorption. While providing a tool probing physical conditions in the vicinity of the core, this dependency poses problems for astrometric studies using compact radio sources. We investigated the frequency-dependent shift in the positions of the cores (core shift) observed with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) in parsec-scale jets. We discuss related physics, as well as its effect on radio astrometry and the connection between radio and optical positions of astrometric reference objects. We searched for the core shift in a sample of 277 radio sources imaged at 2.3 GHz (13 cm) and 8.6 GHz (4 cm) frequency bands using VLBI observations made in 2002 and 2003. The core shift was measured by referencing the core position to optically thin jet features whose positions are not expected to change with frequency. We present here results for 29 selected active galactic nuclei (AGN) with bright distinct VLBI jet features that can be used in differential measurements and that allow robust measurements of the shift to be made. In these AGN, the magnitude of the measured core shift between 2.3 and 8.6 GHz reaches 1.4 mas, with a median value for the sample of 0.44 mas. Nuclear flares result in temporal variability of the shift. An average shift between the radio (4 cm) and optical (6000 Angstrom) bands is estimated to be approximately 0.1 mas, and it should be taken into account in order to provide the required accuracy of the radio-optical reference frame connection. This can be accomplished with multi-frequency VLBI measurements... (abridged)Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in the Astronomy and Astrophysics; minor corrections to the manuscript are mad

Three-dimensional Two-Layer Outer Gap Model: Fermi Energy Dependent Light Curves of the Vela Pulsar

We extend the two-dimensional two-layer outer gap model to a three-dimensional geometry and use it to study the high-energy emission of the Vela pulsar. In this model, the outer gap is divided into two parts, i.e. the main acceleration region on the top of last-open field lines and the screening region around the upper boundary of the gap. In the main acceleration region, the charge density is much lower than the Goldreich-Julian charge density and the charged particles are accelerated by the electric field along the magnetic field to emit multi-GeV photons. In the screening region, the charge density is larger than the Goldreich-Julian value to close the gap and particles in this region are responsible for multi-100MeV photon emission. We apply this three dimensional two-layer model to the Vela pulsar and compare the model light curves, the phase-averaged spectrum and the phase-resolved spectra with the recent Fermi observations, which also reveals the existence of the third peak between two main peaks. The phase position of the third peak moves with the photon energy, which cannot be explained by the geometry of magnetic field structure and the caustic effects of the photon propagation. We suggest that the existence of the third peak and its energy dependent movement results from the azimuthal structure of the outer gap.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

X-ray Phase-Resolved Spectroscopy of PSRs B0531+21, B1509-58, and B0540-69 with RXTE

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer ({\sl RXTE}) has made hundreds of observations on three famous young pulsars (PSRs) B0531+21 (Crab), B1509-58, and B0540-69. Using the archive {\sl RXTE} data, we have studied the phase-resolved spectral properties of these pulsars in details. The variation of the X-ray spectrum with phase of PSR B0531+21 is confirmed here much more precisely and more details are revealed than the previous studies: the spectrum softens from the beginning of the first pulse, turns to harden right at the pulse peak and becomes the hardest at the bottom of the bridge, softens gradually until the second peak, and then softens rapidly. Different from the previous studies, we found that the spectrum of PSR B1509-58 is significantly harder in the center of the pulse, which is also in contrast to that of PSR B0531+21. The variation of the X-ray spectrum of PSR B0540-69 seems similar to that of PSR B1509-58, but with a lower significance. Using the about 10 years of data span, we also studied the real time evolution of the spectra of these pulsars, and no significant evolution has been detected. We have discussed about the constraints of these results on theoretical models of pulsar X-ray emission.Comment: 42 pages, 24 figure

Radio-to-TeV Phase-resolved Emission from the Crab Pulsar: The Annular Gap Model

In the framework of the three-dimensional (3D) annular gap model with reasonable parameters (the magnetic inclination angle \alpha = 45 deg and the view angle \zeta = 63 deg), we first use the latest hight energy data to self-consistently calculate radio, X-ray, gamma-ray and TeV (MAGIC and VERITAS) light curves, phase-averaged spectrum and phase-resolved spectra for the Crab pulsar. It is found that the acceleration electric field and potential in the annular gap and core gap are huge enough in the several tens of neutron star radii. The pulsed emission of radio, X-ray, gamma-ray and TeV are mainly generated from the emission of primary particles or secondary particles with different emission mechanisms in the nearly similar region of the annular gap located in the only one magnetic pole, which leads to the nearly "phase-aligned" multi-wavelength light curves. The emission of peak 1 (P1) and peak 2 (P2) is originated from the annular gap region near the null charge surface, while the emission of bridge is mainly originated from the core gap region. The phase-averaged spectrum and phase-resolved spectra of the Crab pulsar from soft X-ray to TeV band are produced by four components: synchrotron radiation from CR-induced and ICS-induced pairs dominates the X-ray band to soft gamma-ray band (100 eV to 10 MeV); curvature radiation and synchrotron radiation from the primary particles mainly contribute to gamma-ray band (10 MeV to \sim 20 GeV); ICS from the pairs significantly contributes to the TeV gamma-ray band (\sim 20 GeV to 400 GeV). The multi-wavelength pulsed emission from the Crab pulsar has been well modeled with the annular gap and core gap model. To distinguish our single magnetic pole model from two-pole models, the convincing values of the magnetic inclination angle and the viewing angle will play a key role.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables; published in ApJ on March 12. Due to the character limitation, the abstract here has been adopted a shortened versio

The inner annular Gap for pulsar radiation: gamma-ray and radio emission

The inner annular gap (IAG), a new type of inner gap whose magnetic field lines intersect the null charge surface (NCS), is proposed to explain $\gamma$-ray and radio emission from pulsars. The IAG can be an important source for high-energy particles. The particles can radiate between the NCS and the IAG. Some observational characteristics in both $\gamma$-ray and radio bands, such as the $\gamma$-ray emission beams of Crab-like, Vela-like and Geminga-like, can be reproduced by numerical method. It is predicted that the view angle $\zeta$ should be larger than the inclination angle ($\zeta>\alpha$), otherwise the $\gamma$-ray radiation will have little possibility to be observed. Whether the inner annular gap (or cap) is sparking (or free flow) depends on the surface binding energy of the pulsar. In stead of neutron star models, the scenario of the IAG is favorable for bare strange star models, because bare strange stars can easily satisfy the requisite condition to form an IAG for both pulsars ($\vec{\Omega}\cdot \vec{B}<0$) and anti-pulsars ($\vec\Omega \cdot \vec{B}>0$).Comment: ApJL, accepte

Prospects for Observations of Pulsars and Pulsar Wind Nebulae with CTA

The last few years have seen a revolution in very-high gamma-ray astronomy (VHE; E>100 GeV) driven largely by a new generation of Cherenkov telescopes (namely the H.E.S.S. telescope array, the MAGIC and MAGIC-II large telescopes and the VERITAS telescope array). The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project foresees a factor of 5 to 10 improvement in sensitivity above 0.1 TeV, extending the accessible energy range to higher energies up to 100 TeV, in the Galactic cut-off regime, and down to a few tens GeV, covering the VHE photon spectrum with good energy and angular resolution. As a result of the fast development of the VHE field, the number of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) detected has increased from one PWN in the early '90s to more than two dozen firm candidates today. Also, the low energy threshold achieved and good sensitivity at TeV energies has resulted in the detection of pulsed emission from the Crab Pulsar (or its close environment) opening new and exiting expectations about the pulsed spectra of the high energy pulsars powering PWNe. Here we discuss the physics goals we aim to achieve with CTA on pulsar and PWNe physics evaluating the response of the instrument for different configurations.Comment: accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic