Pulsar Astronomy

by Lyne, Andrew; Graham-Smith, Francis

• ISBN13: 9781107010147
• ISBN10: 1107010144
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-30
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Over the last 40 years, an astonishing range of astrophysics has become accessible through pulsar astronomy. The body of literature on this rapidly growing research area is vast and observational techniques now cover the whole of the electromagnetic spectrum. Now in its fourth edition, this authoritative volume gives a thorough introduction to the field. It is extensively revised throughout and new material includes: astrometry of binary pulsars and relativity theory; millisecond pulsars; the origin and Galactic population of pulsars and magnetars; and the pulsed emission from radio to gamma-rays. Within each topic, the authors concentrate on the fundamental physics and list extensive references, spanning from first discoveries to the most recent advances. Websites for catalogues of known pulsars are also recommended, providing a basis for new research work. The rapid pace of progress in pulsar astronomy makes this essential reading both for advanced students entering the field and established researchers.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. xi
Preface	p. xxvii
The discovery of pulsars	p. 1
The radio discovery	p. 2
Interplanetary scintillation	p. 3
The Nature letter of February 1968	p. 5
Oscillations and orbits	p. 6
The identification with neutron stars	p. 9
Optical pulses from the Crab Pulsar	p. 10
X-ray pulses from the Crab Pulsar	p. 11
Rotation periods	p. 11
The interstellar medium	p. 13
The population of pulsars	p. 14
Physics of the neutron star	p. 15
Neutron stars	p. 16
White dwarf stars	p. 17
Neutron stars	p. 17
Neutron star diameters	p. 20
Thermal radiation, luminosity and redshift	p. 20
The crust and the neutron fluid	p. 22
The magnetic fields of neutron stars	p. 23
The magnetosphere	p. 24
Telescopes and techniques	p. 27
Radio telescopes	p. 27
Infrared, optical and ultraviolet telescopes	p. 28
X-ray observations	p. 28
Gamma-ray space-based telescopes	p. 29
Imaging atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes	p. 32
Searching for periodic pulses	p. 33
Frequency dispersion in pulse arrival time	p. 35
De-dispersion	p. 37
The detection of binary pulsar systems	p. 39
Searches for millisecond pulsars	p. 41
Searches of supernova remnants and globular clusters	p. 42
The surveys for normal pulsars	p. 43
Sensitivity: selection effects	p. 45
Combatting radio interference	p. 47
Current and future surveys	p. 48
The distances of the pulsars	p. 49
Pulsar distances from parallax	p. 50
Kinematic distances	p. 52
Pulsar distances from neutral hydrogen absorption	p. 53
Pulsar distances from optical identifications	p. 54
Radio interstellar scattering	p. 57
The H II regions	p. 57
The model electron distribution	p. 58
The accuracy of the electron density model	p. 58
Pulsar timing	p. 61
Pulsar positions and the Earth's orbit	p. 62
The Römer correction to the barycentre	p. 64
The general relativistic corrections	p. 65
Fundamental positional reference frames	p. 66
Periods and period changes	p. 67
Proper motion	p. 68
Gravitational acceleration	p. 69
Precession	p. 70
Pulsar ages and the braking index	p. 71
Pulsars as standard clocks	p. 73
Timing and astrometry of binary pulsars	p. 76
Parameters of a binary orbit	p. 76
Annual orbital parallax	p. 79
Relativistic effects in binary orbits	p. 79
The relativistic evolution of a binary orbit	p. 80
The Double Pulsar binary J0737-3039A/B	p. 84
Tests of gravitational theory	p. 84
Gravitational waves	p. 85
The detection of planetary pulsar systems	p. 86
Timing irregularities	p. 88
Glitches	p. 89
The occurrence of glitches	p. 90
Slowdown rate after a glitch	p. 92
The exponential recoveries	p. 93
Changes of moment of inertia	p. 95
Two-component models: crust and superfluid	p. 96
Vorticity in the neutron fluid	p. 97
Pinning and unpinning	p. 98
Summary of glitch theory	p. 99
Alternative glitch theories	p. 99
Timing noise	p. 100
The origin of timing noise	p. 102
The Galactic population of pulsars	p. 105
The surveys	p. 105
The observed distribution of normal pulsars	p. 106
The derived luminosity and spatial distributions	p. 107
Pulsar velocities and ages	p. 110
The Galactic Centre region	p. 112
Model populations	p. 113
The pulsar birthrate	p. 114
The population of millisecond pulsars	p. 115
The Crab and Vela Pulsars	p. 117
Young pulsars	p. 117
Energy output	p. 117
The Crab Pulsar, PSRB0531+21	p. 118
The Vela Pulsar, PSRB0833-45	p. 128
Other young pulsars	p. 134
Characteristic ages	p. 134
Age from proper motion	p. 135
Uncertain ages: 3C58 and PSR J0205+6449	p. 135
A Crab Pulsar look-alike: PSR B0540-69	p. 136
An old SNR with a young pulsar: PSR B1509-58	p. 136
A young, slow pulsar: PSR J1846-0258 in Kes 75	p. 137
Gamma-rays but no radio: J0633+1746 (Geminga)	p. 137
The youngest pulsars	p. 138
Gamma-ray spectra	p. 139
Emitted power	p. 142
Braking indices	p. 144
Pulsar wind nebulae	p. 145
Millisecond and binary pulsars	p. 151f
A distinct population	p. 151
Binary stars	p. 151
The discoveries	p. 153
The binaries and their orbits	p. 155
The masses of the binary pulsars and their companions	p. 156
Orbits and spin-up histories	p. 160
Pulsars with massive main-sequence companions	p. 163
The eclipsing millisecond binaries	p. 164
The globular cluster pulsars	p. 166
The magnetic fields of the millisecond pulsars	p. 168
The velocities of millisecond pulsars	p. 169
Accretion-powered X-ray pulsars	p. 170
Millisecond X-ray and radio pulsars	p. 172
Binary X-ray light curves	p. 172
Orbits and companion masses	p. 173
The high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs)	p. 174
The low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs)	p. 176
Peculiar systems, black holes and transients	p. 178
Spin-up, accretion and inertia	p. 178
Magnetic field strength	p. 179
The X-ray bursters	p. 180
The Rapid Burster	p. 182
Quasi-periodic (QPO) and kilohertz oscillations	p. 183
Magnetars	p. 184
The Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGRs)	p. 184
The Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs)	p. 186
AXPs, SGRs, RRATs and XDINSs as magnetars	p. 187
Demography and origin of the magnetars	p. 189
Growth of the dipole field	p. 191
Supernovae and their remnants	p. 192
The nature of supernovae	p. 192
Stellar evolution and stellar collapse	p. 194
Accretion-induced supernova collapse	p. 195
Luminosity decay	p. 196
Frequency of occurrence of supernovae	p. 196
Supernova remnants	p. 198
The Crab Nebula	p. 200
The continuum radiation from the Crab Nebula	p. 202
The energy supply	p. 203
Pulsar wind nebulae	p. 205
Associations between pulsars and supernovae	p. 205
Integrated pulse profiles	p. 207
Integrated pulse widths	p. 207
The beam geometry	p. 209
Observed profile widths	p. 211
Radio frequency dependence	p. 211
Beam components, core and cone	p. 213
The overall beam shape	p. 216
The millisecond pulsars	p. 216
Notches	p. 217
Profile changing and mode changing	p. 218
Polarisation geometry	p. 219
Integrated polarisation profiles	p. 222
Orthogonal polarisation modes	p. 225
Position angle swing rates	p. 226
Millisecond pulsars	p. 226
Individual pulses	p. 230
Single pulse intensities and pulse nulling	p. 231
Rotating Radio Transient sources (RRATs)	p. 234
Sub-pulses	p. 234
Drifting and modulation	p. 234
Drift rates	p. 238
Drifting after nulling	p. 240
The polarisation of sub-pulses	p. 240
Microstructure and giant pulses	p. 243
Location of emitting regions	p. 245
Outer gap emission	p. 245
Sources of radio emission	p. 246
Polar cap emission	p. 247
Core and cone components	p. 251
Millisecond pulsars (MSPs)	p. 252
Primary emission beamwidth	p. 252
Aberration, retardation and magnetic field sweep-back	p. 253
Radio from the outer magnetosphere gap	p. 254
Radiation processes	p. 258
Cyclotron radiation	p. 258
Synchrotron radiation	p. 260
Curvature radiation	p. 262
The effect of a particle energy spectrum	p. 263
Self-absorption	p. 264
Inverse Compton radiation	p. 264
Maser amplification	p. 264
Coherence in the radio emission	p. 265
Relativistic beaming	p. 265
The emission mechanisms	p. 267
The two locations	p. 267
The outer gap: curvature and synchrotron radiation	p. 269
Radio spectra	p. 272
Power and energy density in the polar cap radio emitter	p. 273
Polar cap radio emission	p. 274
Radio propagation in the magnetosphere	p. 275
Polarisation	p. 275
The radio emission mechanism	p. 277
Interstellar scintillation and scattering	p. 279
A thin-screen model	p. 279
Diffraction theory of scintillation	p. 281
Thick (extended) scattering screen	p. 282
The Fresnel distance	p. 283
Strong and weak scintillation	p. 283
Distribution in size of the irregularities	p. 284
Dynamic scintillation spectra	p. 284
The velocity of the scintillation pattern	p. 289
Pulse broadening	p. 291
Multiple scattering	p. 293
Observations of pulse broadening	p. 294
Apparent source diameters	p. 296
Long-term intensity variations	p. 298
The interstellar magnetic field	p. 300
Optical and radio observations	p. 300
Faraday rotation in pulsars	p. 302
The configuration of the local field	p. 303
The effect of H II regions	p. 306
Achievements and prospects	p. 307
The observations and the archive	p. 307
The population: birth, death and rejuvenation	p. 309
The physics of pulsars	p. 310
New telescopes and new horizons	p. 311
References	p. 312
Index	p. 341
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