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Pulsars and Acceleration SitesRotation-powered pulsars are excellent laboratories for the studying particle acceleration as well as fundamental physics of strong gravity, strong magnetic fields and relativity. But even forty years after their discovery, we still do not understand their pulsed emission at any wavelength. I will review both the basic physics of pulsars as well as the latest developments in understanding their high-energy emission. Special and general relativistic effects play important roles in pulsar emission, from inertial frame-dragging near the stellar surface to aberration, time-of-flight and retardation of the magnetic field near the light cylinder. Understanding how these effects determine what we observe at different wavelengths is critical to unraveling the emission physics. Fortunately the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), with launch in May 2008 will detect many new gamma-ray pulsars and test the predictions of these models with unprecedented sensitivity and energy resolution for gamma-rays in the range of 30 MeV to 300 GeV.
Document ID
20080032424
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Harding, Alice
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
May 18, 2008
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Meeting Information
Meeting: XXth Rencontres de Blois: Challenges in Particle Astrophysics
Location: Blois
Country: France
Start Date: May 18, 2008
End Date: May 23, 2008
Sponsors: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre d'Essais Aeronautique Toulouse
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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