2009/06/30 by Hao Tong, Ren Xin Xu, Ren-Xin Xu +4 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Amplitude #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Cyclotron #Magnetar #Neutron star #Photon #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Scattering #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Spectral line #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1674-4527/10/6/005
16 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in RAA
arxiv created 2010/03/03 · openalex publication_date 2010/05/25 · arxiv updated 2015/05/13 · openalex created_date 2019/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Resonant cyclotron scattering (RCS) in pulsar magnetospheres is considered. The photon diffusion equation (Kompaneets equation) for RCS is derived. The photon system is modeled three dimensionally. Numerical calculations show that there exist not only up scattering but also down scattering of RCS, depending on the parameter space. RCS's possible applications to spectral energy distributions of magnetar candidates and radio quiet isolated neutron stars (INSs) are pointed out. The optical/UV excess of INSs may be caused by the down scattering of RCS. The calculations for RX J1856.5–3754 and RX J0720.4–3125 are presented and compared with their observational data. In our model, the INSs are proposed to be normal neutron stars, although the quark star hypothesis is still possible. The low pulsation amplitude of INSs is a natural consequence in the RCS model.