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Exploring Pulsars: Properties & Facts

This document discusses pulsars, which are neutron stars that spin rapidly and emit beams of electromagnetic radiation. Some key points: 1) Pulsars are incredibly dense, with the mass of the sun compressed into a sphere only 10 km wide. 2) As they spin, pulsars sweep narrow beams of radio waves across space, appearing as flashes of light when the beam crosses our line of sight. This produces their characteristic pulsating effect. 3) Pulsars have incredibly strong magnetic fields and gravity. Their precise spinning makes them useful for testing Einstein's theory of relativity through pulsar timing experiments.

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rajashekarpula
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139 views30 pages

Exploring Pulsars: Properties & Facts

This document discusses pulsars, which are neutron stars that spin rapidly and emit beams of electromagnetic radiation. Some key points: 1) Pulsars are incredibly dense, with the mass of the sun compressed into a sphere only 10 km wide. 2) As they spin, pulsars sweep narrow beams of radio waves across space, appearing as flashes of light when the beam crosses our line of sight. This produces their characteristic pulsating effect. 3) Pulsars have incredibly strong magnetic fields and gravity. Their precise spinning makes them useful for testing Einstein's theory of relativity through pulsar timing experiments.

Uploaded by

rajashekarpula
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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In Pursuit of Pulsars

CREATED BY
RAJA SHEKAR

1
Audio recording of a pulsar
• You are listening to a radio recording of a
star of mass a thousand, million, million,
million, million (1027) tonnes spinning on its
axis 11 times a second...
• It is called a pulsar (pulsating radio star) or
neutron star

2
Horsehead Nebula, Orion.

3
Pleiades or Seven Sisters

4
The Jewel Box

5
‘Planetary’ Nebula

6
Large Magellanic Cloud

7
Supernova 1987a

8
Crab Nebula

9
Vela Supernova Remnant

10
Properties of Pulsars 1
• Mass 1027 tonnes
• Radius 10 km
• Average density comparable with density of
nucleus

11
Properties of Pulsars 2
• A thimble-full of
pulsar material
would weigh the
same as the 6
billion people who
live on the Earth

12
Properties of Pulsars 3
• Gravitational force strong –
work done climbing 1cm high
‘mountain’ on neutron star =
work done climbing Everest
• Atmosphere compressed by
gravity – only 1 or 2 cm thick

13
Properties of Pulsars 4
• Gravity bends light – one can see
over the horizon on a neutron star
• Gravity red shifts light
• Gravity affects clocks – clocks
tick two times slower than here on
Earth

14
Properties of Pulsars 5
• The gradient of the gravitational force is
strong – tidal disruption of bodies
approaching neutron star

15
Properties of Pulsars 6
• Magnetic field is 108 Tesla
• Voltage drops of up to 109 Volt/cm

16
Properties of Pulsars 7
• All this rotates as a solid body
• Pulse period = rotation period
• Range observed P = 1.6 ms to P = 8 s
• For a pulsar with P=0.1 s, material co-
rotating has speed of c at radius = 4775 km
(less than radius of Earth)

17
Pulsars (pulsating radio stars) today

• Star spins like a lighthouse, sweeping radio beam


around the sky.
• We see a pulse each time beam sweeps across us.
18
Pulsars Properties 8
• They are weak emitters of radio waves
• Their accurate timekeeping (good to 1 part
in 1021) means they can be used as clocks to
test Einstein’s theory of Relativity.

19
Pulsar test of GR

20
Also called pulsars…

21
Pulsars – some amazing facts 1

• The pressure at the centre of a neutron


star is

100000000000000000000000000

times the atmospheric pressure here on


Earth
22
Pulsars – some amazing facts 2
• The fastest known pulsar is
PSR1937+21
with a period of
P= 1.55780644887275+/- 0.0000000000003
milliseconds

23
Pulsars – some amazing facts 2
• The fastest known pulsar is
PSR1937+21
with a period of
P= 1.55780644887275+/- 0.0000000000003
milliseconds
• Stop Press! Pulsar with period
P = 1.39595482 +/- 0.00000006 ms just
discovered.
24
Pulsars – some amazing facts 3

• The pulsars that are the best timekeepers


have a ’jitter’ of only
0.00000000000000000002
i.e. about 0.00006 millionths of a second
per century.

25
Pulsars – some amazing facts 4

• The first planets discovered beyond the


Solar System are three planets around
the pulsar PSR1257+12. There is also a
tiny fourth planet or asteroid in the
system.

26
Pulsars – some amazing facts 5

• The roundest known thing in the


universe is the orbit of the pulsar
PSRJ2317+1439 around another star. It
is round to 1 mm in 69000km.

27
Pulsars – some amazing facts 5

• The roundest known thing in the


universe is the orbit of the pulsar
PSRJ2317+1439 around another star. It
is round to 1 mm in 69000km.
• We hear that….another pulsar has been
found with orbit that is round to 0.04mm
in 100000km.

28
Pulsars – some amazing facts 6

If you drop a coin on to the


surface of a neutron star, you will
see it hit the surface with a speed
of 0.6c

29
The End

30

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