A quantum electrodynamics model for non-thermal emission from soft gamma repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars
Abstract
Previously, we showed that, owing to effects arising from quantum electrodynamics (QED), magnetohydrodynamic fast modes of sufficient strength will break down to form electron-positron pairs while traversing the magnetospheres of strongly magnetized neutron stars. The bulk of the energy of the fast mode fuels the development of an electron-positron fireball. However, a small, but potentially observable, fraction of the energy (~1033 erg) can generate a non-thermal distribution of electrons and positrons far from the star. In this paper, we examine the cooling and radiative output of these particles. We also investigate the properties of non-thermal emission in the absence of a fireball to understand the breakdown of fast modes that do not yield an optically thick pair plasma. This quiescent, non-thermal radiation associated with fast-mode breakdown may account for the recently observed non-thermal emission from several anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma repeaters.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- September 2005
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09338.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0502349
- Bibcode:
- 2005MNRAS.362..777H
- Keywords:
-
- MHD;
- radiation mechanisms;
- non-thermal;
- pulsars;
- general;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 14 pages, 2 figures, submitted to MNRAS