Pulsar Outer-gap Electrodynamics: Hardening of Spectral Shape in the Trailing Peak in Gamma-ray Light Curve

Abstract

The spectral characteristics of the pulsed gamma-ray emission from outer-magnetospheric particle accelerators are investigated. Either positrons or electrons are accelerated outwards by the magnetic-field-aligned electric field to emit gamma-rays via curvature process. Since the particles move along relatively straight paths in the trailing side of a rotating magnetosphere, they attain higher Lorentz factors to emit more energetic gamma-rays than those in the leading side. It is first demonstrated that the cutoff energy of the curvature radiation evolves with the rotation phase owing to the variation of the curvature radii of the particle paths and maximizes at a slightly later phase of the trailing peak in the gamma-ray light curve.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, ApJ Letters in pres