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Electron-positron heating and the eclipsing millisecond pulsar PSR 1957 + 20The companion in the eclipsing millisecond PSR 1957 + 20 appears to be strongly heated by the pulsar and may also be rapidly losing mass due to that heating. A new mechanism is presented by which the heating may be accomplished: diffusion of mildly relativistic electron-positron pairs from the pulsar's relativistic wind through a thermal wind issuing from the companion. Wave-particle scattering regulates the depth at which the pairs deposit their energy; requirements of self-consistency place bounds on the wave spectrum and pair distribution function. If the pairs carry over about 10 percent of the pulsar spin-down luminosity, and the companion's heavy element abundance is subsolar, the heating rate can be adequate to drive a wind with sufficient momentum flux to explain the eclipse geometry. Annihilation photons then heat the companion beneath its photosphere and supply a significant part of the power for the optical luminosity. This model also suggests that the eclipse duration decreases sharply above a critical photon frequency.
Document ID
19900052193
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Krolik, Julian H.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Sincell, Mark W.
(Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 1
Volume: 357
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
90A39248
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-1748
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-1017
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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