Correlation between X-ray Lightcurve Shape and Radio Arrival Time in the Vela Pulsar

Abstract

We report the results of simultaneous observations of the Vela pulsar in X-rays and radio from the RXTE satellite and the Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory in Tasmania. We sought correlations between the Vela's X-ray emission and radio arrival times on a pulse by pulse basis. At a confidence level of 99.8% we have found significantly higher flux density in Vela's main X-ray peak during radio pulses that arrived early. This excess flux shifts to the 'trough' following the 2nd X-ray peak during radio pulses that arrive later. Our results suggest that the mechanism producing the radio pulses is intimately connected to the mechanism producing X-rays. Current models using resonant absorption of radio emission in the outer magnetosphere as a cause of the X-ray emission are explored as a possible explanation for the correlation.

arXiv comment6 pages, 5 figures, accepted by ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• High-Altitude Emission from Pulsar Slot Gaps: The Crab Pulsar
• Particle Acceleration and Non-Thermal Emission in Pulsar Outer Magnetospheric Gap
• Excess Optical Enhancement Observed with ARCONS for Early Crab Giant Pulses
• Gamma-ray Emission from the Vela Pulsar Modeled with the Annular Gap and Core Gap
• Radio Pulsars
• Scattering of Low-Frequency Radiation by a Gyrating Electron
• The KaVA and KVN Pulsar Project
• Physics of radio emission in gamma-ray pulsars
• Toward explanation of the X-ray - radio correlation in the Vela pulsar