X-ray Phase-Resolved Spectroscopy of PSRs B0531+21, B1509-58, and B0540-69 with RXTE

Abstract

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer ({\sl RXTE}) has made hundreds of observations on three famous young pulsars (PSRs) B0531+21 (Crab), B1509-58, and B0540-69. Using the archive {\sl RXTE} data, we have studied the phase-resolved spectral properties of these pulsars in details. The variation of the X-ray spectrum with phase of PSR B0531+21 is confirmed here much more precisely and more details are revealed than the previous studies: the spectrum softens from the beginning of the first pulse, turns to harden right at the pulse peak and becomes the hardest at the bottom of the bridge, softens gradually until the second peak, and then softens rapidly. Different from the previous studies, we found that the spectrum of PSR B1509-58 is significantly harder in the center of the pulse, which is also in contrast to that of PSR B0531+21. The variation of the X-ray spectrum of PSR B0540-69 seems similar to that of PSR B1509-58, but with a lower significance. Using the about 10 years of data span, we also studied the real time evolution of the spectra of these pulsars, and no significant evolution has been detected. We have discussed about the constraints of these results on theoretical models of pulsar X-ray emission.

42 pages, 24 figures

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Cited by in corpus (22)

• In-orbit demonstration of X-ray pulsar navigation with the Insight-HXMT satellite
• The Black Hole Masses and Eddington Ratios of Type 2 Quasars
• The brightening of the pulsar wind nebula of PSR B0540--69 after its spin-down rate transition
• High-Energy X-ray Imaging of the Pulsar Wind Nebula MSH~15-52: Constraints on Particle Acceleration and Transport
• Enhanced X-ray Emission Coinciding with Giant Radio Pulses from the Crab Pulsar
• Evolution of the X-ray Profile of the Crab Pulsar
• In-orbit timing calibration of the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope
• Low-Mass Active Galactic Nuclei with Rapid X-Ray Variability
• Discovery of delayed spin-up behavior following two large glitches in the Crab pulsar, and the statistics of such processes
• Chandra Phase-Resolved Spectroscopy of the High Magnetic Field Pulsar B1509-58
• NuSTAR observations of the young, energetic radio pulsar PSR B1509-58
• Time evolution of the X-ray and gamma-ray fluxes of the Crab pulsar
• In-orbit calibration status of the Insight-HXMT
• Insight-HXMT observations of the Crab pulsar
• Precise timing and phase-resolved spectroscopy of the young pulsar J1617-5055 with NuSTAR
• Phase resolved spectrum of the Crab pulsar from NICER
• Phase-resolved gamma-ray spectroscopy of the Crab pulsar observed by POLAR
• Phase Evolution of the Crab Pulsar between Radio and X-ray
• A Study on the X-Ray Pulse Profile and Spectrum of the Crab Pulsar Using NICER and Insight-HXMT's Observations
• Spatially resolved polarization variation of the Crab Nebula
• Glitches in four gamma-ray pulsars and inferences on the neutron star structure
• A Method for Pulsar Searching: Combining a Two-dimensional Autocorrelation Profile Map and a Deep Convolutional Neural Network