Correlations between pulsed X-ray flux and radio arrival time in the Vela pulsar

Lommen, A. N.; Donovan, J.; Gwinn, C.; Arzoumanian, Z.; Harding, A.; Strickman, M.; Dodson, R.; McCulloch, P.; Moffett, D.

Correlations between pulsed X-ray flux and radio arrival time in the Vela pulsar

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Description

We report the results of simultaneous observations of the Vela pulsar in X-rays and radio from the RXTE satellite and the Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory in Tasmania. We sought correlations between the Vela's X-ray and radio flux densities and radio arrival times on a pulse by pulse basis. We found significantly higher flux density in Vela's main X-ray peak during radio pulses that arrived early. This excess flux shifts to the 'trough' following the 2nd X-ray peak during radio pulses that arrive later. We suggest that the mechanism producing the radio pulses is intimately connected to the mechanism producing X-rays. Current models using resonant absorption in the outer magnetosphere as a cause of the radio emission, and less directly of the X-ray emission, are explored as a possible explanation for the correlation.
Proceedings of the 363. WE-Heraeus Seminar on: Neutron Stars and Pulsars (Posters and contributed talks) Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, Germany, May.14-19, 2006, eds. W.Becker, H.H.Huang, MPE Report 291, pp.16-19