Gamma-ray pulsars : searching for the emission site

Séminaire IPAG de Ioanna Arka (IPAG) , jeudi 29 mars 2012 à 11h00, IPAG seminar room

Since the launch of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, the amount of gamma-ray pulsars has dramatically increased. The new observations have helped restrain current models of pulsar high-energy emission. However, magnetospheric models still face problems, mainly when trying to explain the GeV emission from millisecond pulsars. On the other hand, gamma-ray emission from the pulsar wind is still a viable alternative. In this talk I will argue that the solution to the problem might lie in a unified view of the pulsar’s outflow, beginning inside the light cylinder and extending to the wind. Finally, I will present results from a new model of pulsar high-energy radiation, which explores the wind region right beyond the light cylinder.