Searching for γ-ray emission from LOTAAS pulsars

The LOw-Frequency ARray(LOFAR)has recently conducted a survey(LOFAR Tied-Array Allsky Survey;LOTAAS)for pulsars in the Northern hemisphere that resulted in discoveries of 73 new pulsars.For the purpose of studying the properties of these pulsars,we search for theirγ-ray counterparts using the all-sky survey data obtained with the Large Area Telescope(LAT)onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope(Fermi).We analyze the LAT data for 70 LOTAAS pulsars(excluding two millisecond pulsars and one with the longest known spin period of 23.5 s).We find one candidate counterpart to PSR J1017+30,which should be searched for theγ-ray pulsation signal once its timing solution is available.For other LOTAAS pulsars,we derive their 0.3-500 GeV flux upper limits.In order to compare the LOTAAS pulsars with the knownγ-ray pulsars,we also derive the 0.3-500 GeVγ-ray fluxes for 112 of the latter contained in the Fermi LAT fourth source catalog.Based on the properties of theγ-ray pulsars,we derive upper limits on the spin-down luminosities of the LOTAAS pulsars.The upper limits are not very constraining but help suggest that most of the LOTAAS pulsars probably have<10^(33) erg s^(-1) spin-down luminosities and are not expected to be detectable with Fermi LAT.

Modeling the high-energy emission from the gamma-ray binary 1FGL J1018.6–5856

1FGL J1018.6–5856 is a high mass gamma-ray binary containing a compact object orbiting around a massive star with a period of 16.544 d.If the compact object is a pulsar,non-thermal emissions are likely produced by electrons accelerated at the termination shock,and may also originate from the magnetosphere and the un-shocked wind of the pulsar.In this paper,we investigate the non-thermal emissions from the wind and the shock with different viewing geometries and study the multi-wavelength emissions from 1FGL J1018.6–5856.We present the analysis results of the Fermi/LAT using nearly 10 years of data.The phase-resolved spectra indicate that the Ge V emissions comprise a rather steady component that does not vary with orbital motion and a modulated component that shows flux maximum around inferior conjunction.The ke V/Te V light curves of 1FGL J1018.6–5856 also exhibit a sharp peak around inferior conjunction,which are attributed to the boosted emission from the shock,while the broad sinusoidal modulations could be originating from the deflected shock tail at a larger distance.The modulations of Ge V flux are likely caused by the boosted synchrotron emission from the shock and the IC emission from the unshocked pulsar wind,while the steady component comes from the outer gap of the pulsar magnetosphere.Finally,we discuss the similarities and differences of 1FGL J1018.6–5856 with other binaries,like LS 5039.

Revisiting gamma-ray burst afterglows with time-dependent parameters

The relativistic external shock model of gamma-ray burst （GRB） afterglows has been estab- lished with five free parameters, i.e., the total kinetic energy E, the equipartition parameters for electrons ee and for the magnetic field eB, the number density of the environment n and the index of the power- law distribution of shocked electrons p. A lot of modified models have been constructed to consider the variety of GRB afterglows, such as： the wind medium environment by letting n change with radius, the energy injection model by letting kinetic energy change with time and so on. In this paper, by as- suming all four parameters （except p） change with time, we obtain a set of formulas for the dynamics and radiation, which can be used as a reference for modeling GRB afterglows. Some interesting results are obtained. For example, in some spectral segments, the radiated flux density does not depend on the number density or the profile of the environment. As an application, through modeling the afterglow of GRB 060607A, we find that it can be interpreted in the framework of the time dependent parameter model within a reasonable range.

Hardening of Thermal Photons Through Inverse Compton Scattering in Strong Magnetic Fields

A new spectrum function is obtained by use of the Compton scattering cross section in the laboratory frame derived earlier. This spectrum function, besides some modifications in the coefficients of the resonant term, contains also a non-resonant term which is inversely proportional to the square of the magnetic field. Based on this spectrum function, the hardening of thermal photons through inverse Compton scattering by relativistic electron beams on the surface of a strongly magnetized neutron star is investigated. Two new features are found. First, there is a maximum scattered photon energy for a given resonant scattering, beyond which resonance disappears. This maximum depends on the electron energy and the magnetic field, but is independent of the incident photon energy. Second, beyond each resonant scattering, there is a high-energy tail, resulting from non-resonant scattering. It is also found that all the tails have a common upper limit which is the highest scattered photon energy for the given incident photon and electron energies. These two new features are absent in the Monte Carlo simulations and therefore, may have physical implications for y-ray emissions.

Possible distance indicators in gamma-ray pulsars

Distance measurement of gamma-ray pulsars is a current challenge in pulsar studies.The Large Area Telescope（LAT） aboard the Fermi gamma-ray observatory discovered more than 70 gamma-ray pulsars including 24 new gamma-selected pulsars with almost no distance information.We study the relation between gammaray emission efficiency（η=Lγ/E˙） and pulsar parameters for young radio-selected gamma-ray pulsars with known distance information in the first gamma-ray pulsar catalog reported by Fermi/LAT.We have introduced three generation-order parameters to describe the gamma-ray emission properties of pulsars,and find a strong correlation of η-ζ3,a generation-order parameter which reflectsγ-ray photon generation in the pair cascade processes induced by magnetic field absorption in a pulsar＇s magnetosphere. A good correlation of η-BLC,the magnetic field at the light cylinder radius,is also found.These correlations are the distance indicators in gamma-ray pulsars used to evaluate distances for gamma-selected pulsars.Distances of 25 gamma-selected pulsars are estimated,which could be tested by other distance measurement methods.The physical origin of the correlations may also be interesting for pulsar studies.