X-ray Phase-Resolved Spectroscopy of PSRs B0531+21, B1509-58, and B0540-69 with RXTE

TL;DR

This study uses RXTE data to analyze phase-resolved X-ray spectra of three young pulsars, revealing detailed spectral variations and constraining models of pulsar emission with no significant spectral evolution over a decade.

Contribution

It provides a detailed phase-resolved spectral analysis of PSRs B0531+21, B1509-58, and B0540-69, with new insights into their spectral behaviors and constraints on emission models.

Findings

Spectral softening and hardening patterns in PSR B0531+21 are detailed.

PSR B1509-58 shows a significantly harder spectrum at the pulse center.

No significant spectral evolution detected over 10 years.

Abstract

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer ({\sl RXTE}) has made hundreds of observations on three famous young pulsars (PSRs) B0531+21 (Crab), B1509-58, and B0540-69. Using the archive {\sl RXTE} data, we have studied the phase-resolved spectral properties of these pulsars in details. The variation of the X-ray spectrum with phase of PSR B0531+21 is confirmed here much more precisely and more details are revealed than the previous studies: the spectrum softens from the beginning of the first pulse, turns to harden right at the pulse peak and becomes the hardest at the bottom of the bridge, softens gradually until the second peak, and then softens rapidly. Different from the previous studies, we found that the spectrum of PSR B1509-58 is significantly harder in the center of the pulse, which is also in contrast to that of PSR B0531+21. The variation of the X-ray spectrum of PSR B0540-69 seems similar to that of PSR B1509-58, but with a lower significance. Using the about 10 years of data span, we also studied the real time evolution of the spectra of these pulsars, and no significant evolution has been detected. We have discussed about the constraints of these results on theoretical models of pulsar X-ray emission.