High-energy emission properties of pulsars

Abstract

The sheer number of new γ-ray pulsar discoveries by the Fermi Large Area Telescope since 2008, combined with the quality of new multi-frequency data, has caused a revolution in the field of high-energy rotation-powered pulsars. These rapidly rotating neutron stars exhibit rich spectral and temporal phenomenology, indicating that there are still many unsolved mysteries regarding the magnetospheric conditions in these stars – even after 50 years of research! Indeed, 2017marks the golden anniversary of the discovery of the first radio pulsar, and theorists and observers alike are looking forward to another half-century of discovery, with many new experiments coming online in the next decades. In this review paper, we will briefly summarise recent HE pulsar observations, mention some theoretical models that provide a basic framework within which to make sense of the varied measurements, and finally review some of the latest theoretical developments in pulsar emission modelling