Pulsar wind model for the spin-down behavior of intermittent pulsars

Abstract

Intermittent pulsars are part-time radio pulsars. They have higher slow down rate in the on state (radio-loud) than in the off state (radio-quiet). This gives the evidence that particle wind may play an important role in pulsar spindown. The effect of particle acceleration is included in modeling the rotational energy loss rate of the neutron star. Applying the pulsar wind model to the three intermittent pulsars (PSR B1931+24, PSR J1841-0500, and PSR J1832+0029), their magnetic field and inclination angle are calculated simultaneously. The theoretical braking indices of intermittent pulsars are also given. In the pulsar wind model, the density of the particle wind can always be the Goldreich-Julian density. This may ensure that different on states of intermittent pulsars are stable. The duty cycle of particle wind can be determined from timing observations. It is consistent with the duty cycle of the on state. Inclination angle and braking index observations of intermittent pulsars may help to test different models of particle acceleration. At present, the inverse Compton scattering induced space charge limited flow with field saturation model can be ruled out.

15 pages, 2 figures, ApJ accepted. There is a typo in equation (14) in the published version. It is corrected here

References in corpus (7)

• The Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) Project
• A periodically active pulsar giving insight into magnetospheric physics
• Transient pulsed radio emission from a magnetar
• Pulsar Nulling and Mode Changing
• Radio and X-ray observations of the intermittent pulsar J1832+0029
• On the role of the current loss in radio pulsar evolution
• The annular gap model for gamma-ray emission from young and millisecond pulsars

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Rotational evolution of the Crab pulsar in the wind braking model
• Peculiar Spin Frequency and Radio Profile Evolution of PSR J1119$-$6127 Following Magnetar-like X-ray Bursts
• Dependence of pulsar death line on the equation of state
• Possible evolution of the pulsar braking index from larger than three to about one
• Pulsar braking: magnetodipole vs. wind
• Fluctuating neutron star magnetosphere: braking indices of eight pulsars, frequency second derivatives of 222 pulsars and 15 magnetars
• Twist-induced Magnetosphere Reconfiguration for Intermittent Pulsars
• A note on the puzzling spindown behavior of the Galactic center magnetar SGR J1745-2900
• Frame-dragging effects in obliquely rotating magnetars
• On the variable timing behavior of PSR B0540-69: an almost excellent example to study pulsar braking mechanism
• Observational Constraints on the Pulsar Wind Model: The Cases of Crab and Vela
• The role of equation of state on the spin-up of millisecond pulsars
• Revealing the Unseen: The Discovery of Long-Awaited Radiation from the Intermittent Pulsar PSR B1931+24
• Probing the properties of the pulsar wind via studying the dispersive effects in the pulses from the pulsar companion in a double neutron-star binary system