The Plasma Emission Model of RX J1856.5-3754

TL;DR

This paper models the spectral emission of the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5-3754 using a kinetic approach, revealing the role of cyclotron instability in generating radio waves and estimating the star's spin period.

Contribution

It introduces a kinetic model for neutron star emission spectra, demonstrating the efficiency of cyclotron instability in wave generation and estimating the pulsar's spin period.

Findings

Cyclotron waves are excited in the radio domain.

Cyclotron instability effectively produces observed radiation.

Estimated pulsar spin period based on spectral analysis.

Abstract

A spectral analysis of the nearby isolated neutron star RX J1856.5-3754 is presented. Applying the kinetic approach, the distribution functions of emitting electrons are derived and the entire spectra is fitted. It is found that waves excited by the cyclotron mechanism, come in the radio domain. We confirm that the cyclotron instability is quite efficient, since the estimations show that the time of wave-particle interaction is long enough for particles to acquire perpendicular momentum and generate observed radiation. The lack of rotational modulation is discussed and the pulsar spin period is estimated.