TAPIR Seminar

In person: 370 Cahill. To Join via Zoom: 868 5298 8404

ABSTRACT: Pulsars are highly magnetized rotating neutron stars known for their periodic bursts of radio emission. Decades of astronomical observations revealed that pulsars produce non-thermal radiation in all energy bands, from radio to gamma rays, covering more than 20 decades in photon energy.  In my talk, I will cover a variety of physical processes in immediate surroundings - magnetospheres - of neutron stars that can be responsible for plasma production and the observed emission in the wide range of photon energies, from fractions of eV to TeV. I will demonstrate how accurate modeling of radiative processes in relativistic current sheets can explain the observed emission above theoretical burnoff limit of 16 MeV, and how the mutual interaction of the different regions of the magnetosphere is responsible for generation of extremely energetic photons in the energy range of tens of teraelectronvolt.