Radiation Mechanism of the Soft Gamma-ray Pulsar PSR B1509-58

The outer gap model is used here to explain the spectrum and the energy dependent light curves of the X-ray and soft gamma-ray radiations of the spin-down powered pulsar PSR B1509-58.In the outer gap model, most pairs inside the gap are created around the null charge surface and the gap's electric field separates the two charges to move in opposite directions. Consequently, the region from the null charge surface to the light cylinder is dominated by the outflow of particles and that from the null charge surface to the star is dominated by the inflow of particles. The inflow and outflow of particles move along the magnetic field lines and emit curvature photons, and the incoming curvature photons are converted to pairs by the strong magnetic field of the star. These pairs emit synchrotron photons. We suggest that the X-rays and soft gamma-rays of PSR B1509-58 result from the synchrotron radiation of these pairs, and the viewing angle of PSR B1509-58 only receives the inflow radiation. The magnetic pair creation requires a large pitch angle, which makes the pulse profile of the synchrotron radiation distinct from that of the curvature radiation. We carefully trace the pulse profiles of the synchrotron radiation with different pitch angles. We find that the differences between the light curves of different energy bands are due to the different pitch angles of the secondary pairs, and the second peak appearing at E>10MeV comes from the region near the star, where the stronger magnetic field allows the pair creation to happen with a smaller pitch angle.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, 2012 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C12102

Chromospheric Evaporation in an X1.0 Flare on 2014 March 29 Observed with IRIS and EIS

Chromospheric evaporation refers to dynamic mass motions in flare loops as a result of rapid energy deposition in the chromosphere. These have been observed as blueshifts in X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) spectral lines corresponding to upward motions at a few tens to a few hundreds of km/s. Past spectroscopic observations have also revealed a dominant stationary component, in addition to the blueshifted component, in emission lines formed at high temperatures (~10 MK). This is contradictory to evaporation models predicting predominant blueshifts in hot lines. The recently launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) provides high resolution imaging and spectroscopic observations that focus on the chromosphere and transition region in the UV passband. Using the new IRIS observations, combined with coordinated observations from the EUV Imaging Spectrometer, we study the chromospheric evaporation process from the upper chromosphere to corona during an X1.0 flare on 2014 March 29. We find evident evaporation signatures, characterized by Doppler shifts and line broadening, at two flare ribbons separating from each other, suggesting that chromospheric evaporation takes place in successively formed flaring loops throughout the flare. More importantly, we detect dominant blueshifts in the high temperature Fe XXI line (~10 MK), in agreement with theoretical predictions. We also find that, in this flare, gentle evaporation occurs at some locations in the rise phase of the flare, while explosive evaporation is detected at some other locations near the peak of the flare. There is a conversion from gentle to explosive evaporation as the flare evolves.Comment: ApJ in pres

A Morphological Approach to the Pulsed Emission from Soft Gamma Repeaters

We present a geometrical methodology to interpret the periodical light curves of Soft Gamma Repeaters based on the magnetar model and the numerical arithmetic of the three-dimensional magnetosphere model for the young pulsars. The hot plasma released by the star quake is trapped in the magnetosphere and photons are emitted tangent to the local magnetic field lines. The variety of radiation morphologies in the burst tails and the persistent stages could be well explained by the trapped fireballs on different sites inside the closed field lines. Furthermore, our numerical results suggests that the pulse profile evolution of SGR 1806-20 during the 27 December 2004 giant flare is due to a lateral drift of the emitting region in the magnetosphere.Comment: 7 figures, accepted by Ap

An asymmetrical synchrotron model for knots in the 3C 273 jet

To interpret the emission of knots in the 3C 273 jet from radio to X-rays, we propose a synchrotron model in which, owing to the shock compression effect, the injection spectra from a shock into the upstream and downstream emission regions are asymmetric. Our model could well explain the spectral energy distributions of knots in the 3C 273 jet, and predictions regarding the knots spectra could be tested by future observations.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, new version accepted for publication in Ap