Nature of eclipsing pulsars

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model explaining radio eclipses in certain binary pulsar systems through magnetospheric interactions, accounting for observed eclipse characteristics and polarization changes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model for pulsar radio eclipses involving companion star magnetospheres and plasma interactions, supported by tests on specific pulsar systems.

Findings

The model explains stable, frequency-dependent eclipses.

Predicts significant polarization variation during eclipses.

Aligns well with observed eclipse durations and behaviors.

Abstract

We present a model for pulsar radio eclipses in some binary systems, and test this model for PSRs B1957+20 and J2051-0827. We suggest that in these binaries the companion stars are degenerate dwarfs with strong surface magnetic fields. The magnetospheres of these stars are permanently infused by the relativistic particles of the pulsar wind. We argue that the radio waves emitted by the pulsar split into the eigenmodes of the electron-positron plasma as they enter the companion's magnetosphere and are then strongly damped due to cyclotron resonance with the ambient plasma particles. Our model explains in a natural way the anomalous duration and behavior of radio eclipses observed in such systems. In particular, it provides stable, continuous, and frequency-dependent eclipses, in agreement with the observations. We predict a significant variation of linear polarization both at eclipse ingress and egress. In this paper we also suggest several possible mechanisms of generation of the optical and $X$-ray emission observed from these binary systems.