Journal article · Preprint article
Enhanced x-ray emission coinciding with giant radio pulses from the Crab Pulsar
RIKEN1
Istanbul University2
National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark3
Astrophysics and Atmospheric Physics, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology5
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency6
Japan National Institute of Information and Communications Technology7
Center for Astronomy8
Yamaguchi University9
Nagoya University10
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan11
Tohoku University12
The University of Tokyo13
Yamagata University14
Aoyama Gakuin University15
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetology16
Haverford College17
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center18
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory19
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center20
Columbia University21
California Institute of Technology22
...and 12 morePulsars are spinning, magnetized neutron stars that are observed as a regular sequence of radio pulses. Most pulses are of consistent intensity, but occasionally one is brighter by orders of magnitude. The cause of these unpredictable giant radio pulses (GRPs) is unknown. Enoto et al. observed the Crab Pulsar simultaneously with x-ray and radio telescopes.
They found that x-ray emission during GRPs was slightly brighter than that during normal pulses. Comparing the radio and x-ray enhancements provides constraints on the GRP emission mechanism and the possible connections with other transient radio phenomena.Science, this issue p. 187Giant radio pulses (GRPs) are sporadic bursts emitted by some pulsars that last a few microseconds and are hundreds to thousands of times brighter than regular pulses from these sources.
The only GRP-associated emission outside of radio wavelengths is from the Crab Pulsar, where optical emission is enhanced by a few percentage points during GRPs. We observed the Crab Pulsar simultaneously at x-ray and radio wavelengths, finding enhancement of the x-ray emission by 3.8 textpm 0.7a 5.4σ detection) coinciding with GRPs.
This implies that the total emitted energy from GRPs is tens to hundreds of times higher than previously known. We discuss the implications for the pulsar emission mechanism and extragalactic fast radio bursts.