Table Of ContentRotation and Accretion
Powered Pulsars
WORLD SCIENTIFIC SERIES IN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Editor: Jayant V. Narlikar
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India
Published:
Volume 1: Lectures on Cosmology and Action at a Distance Electrodynamics
F. Hoyle and J. V. Narlikar
Volume 2: Physics of Comets (2nd Ed.)
K. S. Krishna Swamy
Volume 3: Catastrophes and Comets*
V. Clube and B. Napier
Volume 4: From Black Clouds to Black Holes (2nd Ed.)
J. V. Narlikar
Volume 5: Solar and Interplanetary Disturbances
S. K. Alurkar
Volume 6: Fundamentals of Solar Astronomy
A. Bhatnagar and W. Livingston
Volume 7: Dust in the Universe: Similarities and Differences
K. S. Krishna Swamy
Volume 8: An Invitation to Astrophysics
T. Padmanabhan
Volume 9: Stardust from Meteorites: An Introduction to Presolar Grains
M. Lugaro
Volume 11: Find a Hotter Place!: A History of Nuclear Astrophysics
L. M. Celnikier
*Publication cancelled.
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World Scientific Series in Astronomy and Astrophysics – Vol. 10
Rotation and Accretion
Powered Pulsars
Pranab Ghosh
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India
World Scientific
NEW JERSEY • LONDON • SINGAPORE • BEIJING • SHANGHAI • HONG KONG • TAIPEI • CHENNAI
Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover figure: Chandra X-ray image of the Crab pulsar and nebula.
Reproduced with permission from CXC Education/Outreach Co-ordinator.
World Scientific Series in Astronomy and Astrophysics — Vol. 10
ROTATION AND ACCRETION POWERED PULSARS
Copyright © 2007 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.
ISBN-13 978-981-02-4744-7
ISBN-10 981-02-4744-3
Printed in Singapore.
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To the Memory of My Parents
Verba docent, exempla trahunt.
v
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TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk
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Preface
\The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," observes a char-
acter in Aldous Huxley’s The Genius and the Goddess, \All witnesses take
the same oath, and testify about the same events. The result, of course, is
(cid:12)fty-seven varieties of (cid:12)ction." We forget all too often that this describes
not only witnesses and artists, but scientists as well. We describe what is
piously believed to be objective truth, but the outcome is necessarily our
view of that truth. This book grew out of my desire to communicate to a
wide scienti(cid:12)c readership in a simple, accessible waythe unifying overview
wehavebeguntoachieveinrecentyearsofrotation-andaccretion-powered
pulsars|thephasesthatrotating,magneticneutronstarsgothroughdur-
ing their lives. The basic facts are scattered far and wide overprofessional
scienti(cid:12)c literature, but the manner in which I collect and present them
re(cid:13)ects myown overviewof the subject, as it must. Fora longtime, it has
beenclearthat,whiletherewereclassic,pioneeringtext-booksonrotation-
poweredpulsars,andexcellentindividualchaptersonX-raybinarieswithin
collectivevolumes,the uni(cid:12)edviewwasnotreallyavailableasanadvanced
text book. And yet, this overviewis oneof the milestones in modern high-
energy astrophysics. It is my hope that this book will (cid:12)ll that void.
Ithasbeenmypleasureandprivilegetolearnfrommany(cid:12)nephysicists
overtheyears,andtheirgiftstomymindwillbefelt throughoutthebook.
I am proud of this. Among them, the name of Prof. Frederick K. Lamb is
onethatIalwaysmentionwithgreatpleasureandhonor. Whilewritingthe
book,Ihavemarveledathowvariousbranchesofphysicsblendbeautifully
to giveus a comprehensivedescription of the physics of rotating, magnetic
neutron stars and their environments. While this synthesis may be found
to a certain extent in many parts of astrophysics, that of rotation- and
accretion-poweredpulsars seems to be a remarkably strong example.
vii
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viii Rotation and Accretion Powered Pulsars
For motivation and fruition of this project, appreciation and acknowl-
edgment of a deep debt of gratitude go to my late parents, and to my wife
Surita. That thirst for knowledge which the former propagated into me
has been the ultimate motive powerbehind allmy work. This book owesa
great deal to Surita’s constant inspiration and encouragement, and to her
unflinching support and endless patience while it was being written.
Pranab Ghosh
2006
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Acknowledgments
Permissions for reproduction of previously-published figures have been ob-
tainedasfollows. Permissionswereobtainedfromsole/leadauthors(and/or
other authors where appropriate), the author names being given in the re-
spectivefigurecaptions,andfullreferences,e.g.,journal/proceedings/book
names, volume and page numbers, given in the Bibliography. Permissions
were also obtained from the appropriate publishers/permission-granting
authorities of these publications, as detailed in the following table. In
case none of the authors of a publication was available or alive, only
the latter permission could be obtained. We thank all such authors and
publishers/permission-granting authorities for their kind permission, and
display the appropriate copyright sign and/or other material in
respective figure captions for those who require it as per terms
and conditions. Thoseauthorswhoshowedfurtherkindnessbyproviding
us with copies of their figures are much appreciated, and mentioned in the
respective figure captions.
Table1 PERMISSIONS
Figure(s) Publisher/Permission-grantingauthority
Bookcover ChandraX-rayCenter
Education/Outreach Co-ordinator
2.1,2.4,7.13,7.15,7.16,13.4 BlackwellPublishing,Oxford
3.1,4.18,4.19,6.1,9.1,9.12,9.13 AnnualReviews,PaloAlto
9.23 RevistaMexicanadeAstron. yAstrofis.
2.3 Taylor&FrancisLtd,Oxford
9.7,9.8,9.22,9.18 AstronomicalSocietyofJapan
4.9,4.10,4.11,4.14,7.19,B.1,D.1 ElsevierB.V.,Amsterdam&Oxford
ix
