Gamma-ray emission from strongly magnetized pulsars

Abstract

In a strong magnetic field, B > 4x10^{12} G, gamma-rays emitted nearly along curved field lines adiabatically convert into bound electron-positron pairs (positronium atoms) rather that decaying into free pairs. This process may modify the polar gaps of strong magnetized pulsars. Unlike free pairs, such bound pairs do not screen the electric field component along the magnetic field in the polar gaps. As a result the total power carried away by both relativistic particles and radiation, from the polar gap into the pulsar magnetosphere, may increase significantly (up to a few tens times) in comparison with the conventional polar gap models where creation of bound pairs is ignored, and it may be a substantial fraction of the spin-down power. We demonstrate that the total power of the modified polar gaps may be enough to explain the observed non-thermal luminosities of all known strongly magnetized, gamma-ray pulsars.