Nature 305, 409 - 410 (29 September 1983); doi:10.1038/305409a0

Expected high-frequency radiation from the 1.5-ms pulsar

V. V. Usov

Space Research Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117810, USSR

The 1.5-ms pulsar PSR1937 +214 has so far been observed only in the radio range¹, and X-ray and -ray observations at energies of between 30 and 1,000 MeV have yielded only upper limits for the radiation flux¹⁻³. An optical identification of the 1.5-ms pulsar has been proposed⁴, but this identification cannot yet be considered definite. Thus it is of great interest to determine in which spectral region the PSR1937 +214 pulsar shows a radiation maximum. Here I consider how the current pulsar theory answers this question, and show that the 1.5-ms pulsar should be an intense source of quanta with an energy of 10¹¹ eV below which rays freely leave its magnetosphere. The flux of superhard quanta emitted by this pulsar may exceed, by an order of magnitude, the flux from the pulsar in the Crab Nebula.

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