Polarization evolution in strong magnetic fields

Jeremy S. Heyl; Nir J. Shaviv

doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03076.x

Polarization evolution in strong magnetic fields

Jeremy S. Heyl^*, Nir J. Shaviv

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

67 Scopus citations

Abstract

Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction. Although this polarization-dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars, it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons travelling within the field. The photon states evolve adiabatically and follow the changing magnetic field direction. The combination of a : rotating magnetosphere and a frequency-dependent-state decoupling predicts polarization phase lags between different wavebands, if the emission process takes place well within the light cylinder. This QED effect may allow observations to distinguish between different pulsar-emission mechanisms and to reconstruct the structure of the magnetosphere.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	555-564
Number of pages	10
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	311
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03076.x
State	Published - 21 Jan 2000
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Magnetic fields
Polarization
Stars: neutron

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10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03076.x

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abstract = "Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction. Although this polarization-dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars, it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons travelling within the field. The photon states evolve adiabatically and follow the changing magnetic field direction. The combination of a : rotating magnetosphere and a frequency-dependent-state decoupling predicts polarization phase lags between different wavebands, if the emission process takes place well within the light cylinder. This QED effect may allow observations to distinguish between different pulsar-emission mechanisms and to reconstruct the structure of the magnetosphere.",

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AB - Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction. Although this polarization-dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars, it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons travelling within the field. The photon states evolve adiabatically and follow the changing magnetic field direction. The combination of a : rotating magnetosphere and a frequency-dependent-state decoupling predicts polarization phase lags between different wavebands, if the emission process takes place well within the light cylinder. This QED effect may allow observations to distinguish between different pulsar-emission mechanisms and to reconstruct the structure of the magnetosphere.

KW - Magnetic fields

KW - Polarization

KW - Stars: neutron

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Polarization evolution in strong magnetic fields

Abstract

Keywords

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