Two-photon annihilation in the pair formation cascades in pulsar polar caps

dc.creatorZhang, Bing
dc.creatorQiao, G. J.
dc.date1998-06-19
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T02:27:14Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T02:27:14Z
dc.descriptionThe importance of the photon-photon pair production process ($γ+ γ^{\prime}\to e^{+}+e^{-}$) to form pair production cascades in pulsar polar caps is investigated within the framework of the Ruderman-Sutherland vacuum gap model. It is found that this process is unimportant if the polar caps are not hot enough, but will play a non-negligible role in the pair formation cascades when the polar cap temperatures are in excess of the critical temperatures, $T_{cri}$, which are around $4\times 10^6K$ when $P=0.1$s and will slowly increase with increasing periods. Compared with the $γ-B$ process, it is found that the two-photon annihilation process may ignite a central spark near the magnetic pole, where $γ-B$ sparks can not be formed due to the local weak curvatures. This central spark is large if the gap is dominated by the ``resonant ICS mode''. The possible connection of these central sparks with the observed pulsar ``core'' emission components is discussed.
dc.description7 pages, 3 Postscript figures, LaTex, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9806262
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9806262
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/12607
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleTwo-photon annihilation in the pair formation cascades in pulsar polar caps
dc.typetext

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