A periodically active pulsar giving insight into magnetospheric physics
Preprint
- 28 April 2006
Abstract
PSR B1931+24 (J1933+2421) behaves as an ordinary isolated radio pulsar during active phases that are 5-10 days long. However, the radio emission switches off in less than 10 seconds and remains undetectable for the next 25-35 days, then it switches on again. This pattern repeats quasi-periodically. The origin of this behaviour is unclear. Even more remarkably, the pulsar rotation slows down 50% faster when it is on than when it is off. This indicates a massive increase in magnetospheric currents when the pulsar switches on, proving that pulsar wind plays a substantial role in pulsar spin-down. This allows us, for the first time, to estimate the currents in a pulsar magnetospheric during the occurrence of radio emission.Keywords
All Related Versions
- Version 1, 2006-04-28, ArXiv
- Published version: Science, 312 (5773), 549.
This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: