Matthew Baring: Theoretical Perspectives on Non-Thermal Pulsar Emission

At present, there are over 1700 radio pulsars, around 30 optical pulsars, over 60 X-ray pulsars, and 7 gamma ray pulsars known. The main focus of this talk was how to distinguish between the polar cap and outer gap emission models, in particular how to do this using the 30MeV to 300GeV capabilities of the newly launched GLAST telescope.
The predicted populations of pulsars detectable with GLAST differ depending on whether one uses a polar cap model or an outer gap model. If pulsar emission originates from a polar cap, one expects 150-200 new pulsars detected with GLAST, while one expects 300-800 new pulsar detections if the emission originates from around the surface, as in the outer gap model.
The predicted spectrum of the Vela pulsar differs in the two models, and simulations indicate that GLAST should be able to resolve this difference.
In general, the polar cap model predicts that the highest detectable energies from pulsars decrease with increasing magnetic field, while the outer gap model predicts increasing maximum energy with increasing magnetic field. The present data cannot rule out either model on this basis, but GLAST data may be able to do so.
In the future, polarimetry in X-ray and soft gamma ray bands would be valuable in constraining pulsar emission mechanisms, by distinguishing between synchrotron and curveature polarization throgh the polarization swing profiles.